Out of the Wings

La orgía (c.1972), Enrique Buenaventura

The Orgy : ACT ONE

The Orgy (1974), translated by Robert Rudder, Gerardo Luzriaga

ACT ONE

Edition

Luzuriaga, Gerardo and Robert S. Rudder, eds. and trans. 1974. The Orgy: Modern One-Act Plays from Latin America. Los Angeles, University of California, UCLA Latin American Center

pp. 9-12

Context:

This extract takes place towards the beginning of the play. The mute son has exited and the beggars begin arriving.

Sample text

FIRST BEGGAR:: Lord be praised.
OLD WOMAN:: Did you get here alright? Where were you, you scabby son of a bitch?
FIRST BEGGAR:: I don’t feel so good ... my chest ... (He coughs. He spits into a bloody rag.)
OLD WOMAN:: Don’t act so pompous. You don’t have any right to get such a delicate illness. In my time that was a very distinguished illness. Now everybody’s uncle has it.
FIRST BEGGAR:: If I could get something to eat at these Orgies of the Thirtieth, I’d feel a lot better. At least once a month!
OLD WOMAN:: Well, this is a spiritual observance. A memorial. I won’t allow it to be dirtied by the materialism of these days.
FIRST BEGGAR:: Today I’m charging a dollar thirty.
OLD WOMAN:: Why?
FIRST BEGGAR:: I live further away. I have to take a bus.
OLD WOMAN:: Jacob used to ride in a carriage. A big horse-drawn carriage.
FIRST BEGGAR:: Who?
OLD WOMAN:: Get dressed.; The beggar, who is nearly skin and bones, takes off his clothes. He shivers. He pulls an old, fancily decorated shirt from one of the piles of clothes, and puts it on. He coughs.; Don’t you go and get Jacob’s clothes dirty.; The beggar puts on a moth-eaten jacket. Pants. Everything is too big for him. He puts on the top hat, but he can’t get the gloves on. His fingers are all bent and twisted from arthritis.; Jacob you’ve grown smaller ... Oh, my dear, bring me a chair. Pull that curtain open; I can’t see very well. Hand me the binoculars. My God, you old scab! Stick your gloves up your ass, but don’t keep twisting them around, trying to put them on ... You’re going to make me dizzy!
FIRST BEGGAR:: They don’t fit.
OLD WOMAN:: Don’t talk.
FIRST BEGGAR: (Enraged): But I can’t get them on.
OLD WOMAN:: Shut up.
FIRST BEGGAR:: Don’t shout at me. (He throws down the gloves)
OLD WOMAN:: Do you want to leave here without the orgy? Do you want to lose your alms? (She shouts)
FIRST BEGGAR:: (Humiliated) No. No, Ma’am.
OLD WOMAN:: Pick up your gloves! (The FIRST BEGGAR picks up his gloves, and goes into a fit of coughing.) Don’t cough! (The FIRST BEGGAR struggles to stop coughing.)
FIRST BEGGAR:: What ... (He starts coughing again; he holds it back.) I’ve got to cough!
OLD WOMAN:: Hold it back.
FIRST BEGGAR: (With great effort: I’ve got tu-ber-cu-lo-sis.
OLD WOMAN:: Don’t talk about that. (A short pause) Start in. I’m anxious to get started. (A pause) While we wait for the others to get here.
FIRST BEGGAR:: You want me to start?
OLD WOMAN:: Go ahead.
FIRST BEGGAR: (He takes a deep bow): How beautiful you are, Maria Cristina.; He has a coughing fit in order to cover up his laughter.
OLD WOMAN:: Don’t cough.
FIRST BEGGAR:: Listen to the way my chest sounds. (His chest rumbles.)
OLD WOMAN:: Dear Jacob, pull up that chair for me. And draw back that curtain; I can’t see very well. Hand me the binoculars.; She looks at the audience through the pair of rickety binoculars that the FIRST BEGGAR hands her.; Look. There they are. And every one of them with his little private life all under lock and key ... They’ve come here not to see. They don’t want to see. That’s why they come. If they could see they’d be frightened. Do you think they’re dead? No. That one over there just moved. Old what’s-his- name. What’s-her-name supports him and she’s so-and-so’s mistress. Look at that one.; She whispers animatedly in his ear. They both laugh.; Look at her, over there.; She hands him the binoculars. He looks. He gives the binoculars back to her and whispers at great length into her ear. He talks so long that he chokes and starts coughing.; You goddam pig, turn your head away when you cough!; She looks through the binoculars.; And that one, that one there! Oh, that one over there!; She whispers in the FIRST BEGGAR’s ear. The two start laughing louder and louder. The FIRST BEGGAR points to someone in the audience, and they burst into shrieks of laughter. Suddenly the OLD WOMAN’s laughter breaks off and she pulls the FIRST BEGGAR’s arm down.; Don’t point. They’re starting to notice.; She motions the FIRST BEGGAR to stoop down so that she can tell him a secret. He bends over. She whispers the secret to him. He nods his head. He looks through the binoculars and whispers into her ear. The game begins to move faster. They pass the binoculars back and forth very quickly and say things in a jumble. SECOND BEGGAR comes in.

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