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- 96 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
Siamese Twins
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About This Book
'I would like to, I would like to...cut the cord.'
First performed in 1967, this is an early, yet startling, brilliant work by the internationally acclaimed Argentine playwright Griselda Gambaro. In this absurd and forceful play, two brothers carry out a primal scene of envy, cruelty and torture. Ignacio wants to break free of his brother and move out of their shared house, but Lorenzo has other plans. Through a series of dark comedic scenes the absurd becomes a harrowing metaphor of the most pure and raw reality.
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Yes, you can access Siamese Twins by Griselda Gambaro, Gwen MacKeith in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Media & Performing Arts & Performing Arts. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
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ACT TWO
SCENE 3
The same room, one or several days afterwards. A ladder against the wall, next to a brush with a long handle. The daylight comes in through the window. LORENZO is in the room, hammering the leg of a chair. Whistles, very happy. Finishes hammering, rests the chair on the floor. The chair wobbles and falls over.
LORENZO: (Happy.) Excellent! What skill! (As the chair falls over, he rests it against the wall. Straightaway he takes some newspapers and a big jar of glue and sticks newspapers over the windows. Light is blocked out little by little. LORENZO, disconcerted.) You canāt see anythingā¦(Stumbles down the ladder, finds the electric light.) Anyway, I hate light. Iām fine on my ownā¦I feelā¦fine! Perhaps Iām a healthy man and he makes me ill. But if he comes backā¦ (Laughs.) Iāve got an idea, a magnificent idea! Heās not the brightest spark, but heāll understand. Clear as day. (He pulls out an old dirty cardboard suitcase from under the bed. He opens it on top of the bed. Disgusted.) How filthy! Just as something to lend to him. It smells of schnitzel. (Looks through the room, lifts up a mattress and pulls out a pair of socks which he puts in the suitcase. He shakes a shoe until some more socks fall out, very dusty, tied in a knot, that he also puts into the suitcase. He does the same with a moth-eaten shirt which he takes out of a drawer.) What else has he got? A pair of trousers. Two pairs of trousers, heās wearing one pair. (Looks in the drawers.) Where can they have got to? (With an exclamation of delight, he discovers them on the floor, under a scrubbing brush. He shakes them.) Theyāre damp. (He folds them, puts them inside the suitcase.) Iāll put the suitcase in the hallway; if he comes back, heāll get the message. I donāt want to get involved. Someone who gets into trouble with the police, is not good to have too close. Or I could put the suitcase on the doorstep. If somebody steals it, too bad. (Closes the suitcase, strains to lift it, but the suitcase doesnāt weigh a thing and the effort he puts into lifting it is excessive. Disconcerted.) It doesnāt weigh a thingā¦! Iāll fill it with newspapers. Heāll see that I donāt wish him any ill. My things and your things. Good will starts from here. Too bad if yours donāt exist. Ignacio bought the newspapers. He can take them with him. (Fills the suitcase with the old newspapers, presses them down and closes it. Picks up the suitcase and sets it on the floor.) Now itās heavy. (A silence.) I feel fine! (Breathes in and out deeply.) Two mattresses. Iāll join them together andā¦ (Resolute.) Iāll start to look at women. (Gets up on the stool and opens the window. Leans half his body outside, takes a comb out of his pocket and starts combing his hair.) Iāll try my luck with the first one who comes along. Fat or thin, old or young. If Iām going to give it a go, I canāt be too choosy. (Giggling.) As long as sheās got all the essential bits! (Looks. Disgusted.) What about this one? Where did she come from? Sheās a dried up old thing! Itās fine to let yourself go, but sheās got nothing going for her! (Turns back into the room, saying.) You see, whatās that all about Ignacio? (He stops short, furious.) Itās easier with two mattresses, he was cramping my style. (Looks out again.) What about this one? Sheās a cow! If I pick her up, Iāll suffocate. And all caked in make-up! Gross! Imagine what her face would look like when she woke up in the morning! Youād be better off sleeping with a bogeyman! (Leans half his body outside the window, now he looks in the other direction and shouts.) Hey! You think you can get away with anything just because youāve got nice tits? Fatso! (Laughs, but interrupts himself abruptly and closes the window, frightened.) Did she hear me? (Gets off the stool, goes towards the front door and locks it.) What bad luck! She was standing on the corner, to kiss that faceā¦ He was an ox!ā¦(Laughing involuntarily.) Of course, the oxen with the cow! He he! Iāve got time. Today someoneās going to fall into my arms. Patience. Now Iām alone. The house is mine, the mattresses are mine. Iāll rent out this room and live off the rent. Women are gold diggers. (Opens a small gap in the window and spies. Relaxes and opens it completely, propping up his elbows on the window sill.) What a scarcity of women! Where are they all? But Iāve got all the tiā¦(Sees something and falls silent.) How is it possible? (Dumbstruck.) There is no such thing as security, you canāt trust anyone! (Closes the window in a hurry. Takes a few steps into the room, wringing his hands in a strange way, as if he was applauding, very nervous. Sees the suitcase, picks it up.) Iāll put the suitcase in the street, that way heāll get the messageā¦As clear as day. (Opens the door decisively. On the threshold is IGNACIO, the same look as before, only that he seems even more beaten up. LORENZO blushing, stammering.) Hiā¦
IGNACIO: (With a croaking voice.) Are you leaving?
LORENZO: (Stammering.) Noā¦I was just carrying yourā¦ yourā¦suitcaseā¦
IGNACIO: Where to?
LORENZO: Where to?ā¦I thought you were stillā¦in theā¦ (Retches.) I feelā¦badā¦(IGNACIO meets LORENZOās surprise by walking past him without looking at him, crosses the room and lies down on the bed. LORENZO also goes inside, sits on a chair next to the table. A silence. Taking the moral high ground.) What do you want me to talk to you about? (A silence. Loses his surety.) I feelā¦out ofā¦sortā¦ (Starts to tremble violently, itās not put on, but he exaggerates. A silence. Suddenly.) Why is your voice like that?
IGNACIO: I caught a cold. It gave me a croaky voice.
LORENZO: How are you?
IGNACIO: Bad.
LORENZO: (Surprised.) Bad? Why? (Suspiciously.) I donāt recognize your voice. Are you Ignacio or did you send something else in your place? I wouldnāt put it past you. (He sits up in his chair and looks at him. Sociable.) How did they treat you?
IGNACIO: They replaced my tooth.
LORENZO: Did they? How nice of them! They were kind. They seemed very agreeable to me. And to you? Of course, throwing stones at a little boy doesnāt produce a good response in anybody, especially in those who have to look after themā¦
IGNACIO: It wasnāt about the stone.
LORENZO: (Enlivened by the conversation.) No? Oh, for the robbery of four million? (Smiles.) Did they believe it? It was a joke! The forms, the stamps, it was all already on the table.
IGNACIO: It wasnāt about that either. I struck them asā¦ suspicious. (Sad and wounded.) Lorenzo, why did you do this to me?
LORENZO: (Making excuses for himself like a child.) What did I do to you? I didnāt do anything to you. You struck them as suspicious. That is to sayā¦you didnāt come over friendly. All the same they could haveā¦(Doesnāt want to laugh, but canāt contain himself.) Thatās it! Thatās what youāre saying! I seemed like the nice guy! That really cheers me upā¦to turn out to be nice! Me, the nice guy! (Laughs wildly while IGNACIO looks at him. He stops, little by little, diverting his gaze, conscious of IGNACIO looking at him, rests his elbows on the table and starts to scratch his head. A painful silence.)
IGNACIO: Lorenzoā¦
LORENZO: (Obliging.) Yes, yes, darling, at your service.
IGNACIO: Some dayā¦Iāmā¦Iām going to get you.
LORENZO: (Goes pale, wraps his hands around his sides.) Ignacioā¦I feel bad. Iā¦I need you.
IGNACIO: Go to hell!
LORENZO: (Rests his face on the table and starts to cry.) I didnāt want toā¦do you damageā¦ I...
Table of contents
- Front Cover
- Half-title Page
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Characters
- Acknowledgements
- Act One
- Act Two