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Nina (2002-2003), José Ramón Fernández
- Scene
Nina is a one act play that takes place over one night in the lobby and bar of a quiet hotel. It can be divided up into the six encounters between the three characters. The action takes place from around 2:15 a.m. to 8 a.m. (when Nina must leave to get the bus). The six different conversations/episodes can be divided as follows:
- Nina arrives at hotel. Esteban recognises her and telephones Blas.
- Blas arrives. Esteban and Blas talk about Nina’s return. Esteban leaves Blas alone to cater for Nina.
- Nina and Blas. This is the central scene in which the two friends reminisce about the past. Nina gets drunk and regrets emerge about how life has gone for both of them. They end up making love.
- Esteban returns and is angry with Blas after discovering the pair asleep together.
- Esteban and Nina talk together about the past.
- Nina and Blas are alone together once more as Nina prepares to leave the seaside town for good.
- Staging
Nina takes place in autumn during the off-peak season in a seaside hotel. The stage directions state that the hotel is not busy but that the few clients there are (perhaps elderly people or Germans) might be mentioned.
The hotel reception is described as being very close to the entrance of the hotel itself. The reception has a counter behind which are the keys to the rooms. The stage directions suggest but do not specify that this section might house a ballroom with high ceilings and a large window that leads out to the sea and sand dunes. This ballroom is used as a breakfast room as well as a restaurant.
There is a television lounge with a bar from where the entrance to the hotel is visible. This is where Esteban is first seen sitting, rather than in the reception area. The kitchen is behind the bar counter.
The television in the lounge is described as being on at a low volume – showing commercials, for example for sunglasses or even fishing tackle.
The action starts in the early hours of the morning and rain can be heard outside. At one point early in the play there is a brief power cut because of the storm.
Nina uses a lift to get to her hotel room.
In their encounter in the bar during which Nina gets increasingly drunk, she and Blas make love. The staging of this is left to the discretion of the director. For example, the director of the 2009 Buenos Aires production, Jorge Eines, refused to show nudity on stage, preferring to engage the audience’s imagination by suggestion rather than explicitness.
Props
- Esteban prepares fishing tackle so fish hooks and fishing lines are needed
- Fishing rods
- Cigarettes
- Beer, drinks, olives
- Bottle of liquid meant to be the strong alcohol Nina drinks
- Television
- Telephone
- Music player
- Album of photos from when Nina, Blas, Nuria (Esteban’s daughter), Gabi and Maria were young
- Torch/lantern for use during the power cut
- Bucket and brushes for cleaning the floor
- Masking tape to repair the broken window
- Umbrella stand for Blas’s umbrella
- Sofa/Chairs
- Holdall and suit holder for Nina’s luggage
- Quinces or other sort of fruit
- Music
The directions suggest playing the music of Chet Baker (1929-1988) during the play. For example, the music that Blas puts on during the bar scene with Nina could be Chet Baker’s Let’s Get Lost (1987) or The Best Thing For You (1977). Serrano Baixauli considers the choice of Chet Baker’s music significant in that adds to the intimacy of the sexual encounter between Blas and Nina (2009: 87).
At one point Nina sings a fragment of a song once loved by herself and her friends, Devórame otra vez (Devour Me One More Time) (1990), by the Spanish music duo Azúcar Moreno.
Later, as Nina and Blas are engaged in passionate love-making, the directions suggest other songs by Chet Baker might play, such as If You Could See Me Now (1988) or Ballad Medley (1958).
Other music mentioned – Please Forgive Me (1993) by Brian Adams; Mahler’s music from Death in Venice (1971)
A score of music used in the 2006 Teatro Español production, composed by Pascal Gaigne, features in the published play text (2006: 165-7).
Ramón Fernández, José. 2006. Nina. Madrid, Teatro Español (in Spanish)
Serrano Baixauli, Rosa. 2009. ‘José Ramón Fernández: un teatro para y sobre personas’, Stichomythia, 9, 82-8 (in Spanish)
- Cast number
-
Minimum Maximum 2 males 2 males 1 female 1 female 3 (total) 3 (total) - Characters
- NINA, Young woman 28-31 years old
- BLAS, An old friend of Nina's, 36 years old
- ESTEBAN, 57 years old, owner of the hotel in the seaside town and father of Nuria, another old friend of Nina's
Entry written by Gwynneth Dowling. Last updated on 13 November 2010.
