Selected Plays by Griselda Gambaro

Siamese Twins; Mother by Trade; As the Dream Dictates; Asking Too Much; Persistence; Dear Ibsen, I Am Nora; The Gift

Griselda Gambaro, Gwen MacKeith

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781350233669
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

Griselda Gambaro is arguably one of Argentina's most important dramatists, as well as a playwright of international significance, whose poetics not only interpret Argentine reality but transcend cultural and geographical borders. Despite international recognition, her plays remain little performed in the UK, an absence which makes this anthology of new translations a welcome contribution to British theatre culture, and to the English-speaking stage. Prolific since the 1960s, Gambaro's plays are radical, subversive, and endlessly inventive in the use of form and theatricality. This is a theatre of resistance which has the potential to make searing comments on our own domestic and political contexts, an experience which may not be comfortable but is always vital. Dazzling, original, incisive and poetic, this anthology shows Griselda Gambaro at the height of her creative powers. Siamese Twins (1967)
In this charged and forceful play, two brothers (one weak, one strong) play out a primal scene of envy, cruelty and torture as one exerts his power and aggression over the other. Mother by Trade (1999)
In a stark process of truth and reconciliation, a daughter meets her estranged mother forty years after she abandoned her as an infant. As the Dream Dictates (2002)
How can we look to the future if there is great trauma in our past? In this play, only the untethered thinking that comes with dreaming allows us the freedom to imagine. Asking Too Much (2004)
In this enigmatic two-hander, the roles played by a man and a woman in the game of human attachment are renegotiated. Persistence (2007)
Inspired by the real life event of the 2004 Beslan massacre in Russia, Persistence is a poetic play which goes to the heart of human tragedy. Dear Ibsen, I Am Nora (2013)
Nora, the character created by Henrik Ibsen in A Doll's House, decides to confront her creator and to debate with him her own words and actions. The Gift (2015)
Márgara is a woman with the gift of prophecy… but people do not believe her, even though she predicts hope for the world. Will humanity be able to hear her?

Dear Ibsen, I Am Nora (2013)

The premiere of Dear Ibsen, I Am Nora was performed in the Cunill Cabanellas Theatre of the Teatro General San Martín in Buenos Aires in September 2013, with the following cast:

Nora	Belén Blanco
Henrik	Alberto Suárez
Ana María	Pochi Ducasse
Cristina	Victoria Roland
Krogstad	Agustín Rittano
Rank	Leonardo Saggese
Torvald	Ezequiel Díaz

Staging and Lighting: Gonzalo Córdova

Art Design and Costume: Renata Schussheim

Music: Pablo Cécere

Assistant Direction: Horacio Larraza

Direction: Silvio Lang

Characters

Nora

Henrik

Torvald

Cristina

Krogstad

Rank

Ana María

To Alicia Zanca (1955–2012)

In her memory and in the memory of so many plays and days spent working in the theatre that we shared.

Scene One

Nora He lent me his voice. Before I noticed, he warned me about what was happening. He was an intelligent man, wide awake, while I was a woman unable to sleep upon cotton wool that concealed needles. And those needles pierced me more and more as time went on. A kind of bland pain, a restlessness. And yet my loves were firm, my husband, my three children. Perhaps in dreams or in nightmares I asked for his help, and he came.

Henrik enters. He crosses the room as he takes off his top hat, he sits down and puts his hat next to him, on the floor. They look at each other for a moment.

Henrik (flatly) It’s a difficult situation, isn’t it?

Nora I don’t know what’s wrong with me. What I lived before with courage, as a challenge, today annoys me. And it annoys me all the more to feel irritated by a contemptible cause.

Henrik Which one?

Nora You’re asking me? Money, first of all.

Henrik The lack of it.

Nora The lack of it, naturally. To ask for it, beg for it, to depend. Even for the minimum. These Christmases I want to buy presents. For everyone, Torvald, the children, the servants. Too much expense, says Torvald. The children, yes. The servants … they can go without. He treats me like a little girl. Too extravagant. (She faces him.) Is this why I asked for your help?

Henrik Torvald is very strict. He’s careful with money. A loan, a debt, would be a stain on his honour.

Nora (teasing) How very proper! You … could intercede, couldn’t you? Torvald would listen to you.

Henrik You confer more powers on me than I possess.

Nora You are a man, of … similar persuasion to Torvald, one could say.

Henrik (laughs) Nora …! I also live in my century, I cannot unknow it’s rules.

Nora You infringe upon them all the same.

Henrik Oh, in little things! The scandal will be further ahead.

Nora (unsettled) What do you mean?

Henrik That I will make unexpected choices … For my century.

Nora And me? How will your decisions affect me?

Henrik They will change you. Don’t be impatient. You must wait for the events to change you.

Nora (after a silence) They have already changed me.

The doorbell rings. Ana María, Nora’s elderly wet nurse crosses the room to open the door.

Henrik No, no. Now you will be docile, you will laugh a lot.

Nora No.

Henrik You will laugh so that they’ll believe you’re a sweet, enchanting creature … a little girlish.

Nora That’s not how I am!

Henrik (he puts a finger to his lips) Sshh!

Nora You’re the one who makes me laugh. Too much. Oh how happy I am all the time! Like a moron.

Henrik Sshh!

Ana María comes back.

Nora Who is it?

Ana María A surprise awaits you, madam. A friend of yours, Mrs Linde.

Nora Mrs Linde? Show her in!

Henrik It’s been a long time that we haven’t seen her … three years?

Nora No, much longer, ten, fifteen years! (Mrs Linde enters.) Cristina! (She embraces her.) It’s been so long!

Cristina I married without love, with a vested interest. He had a fortune and with that fortune I could care for my mother and my brothers. But later, when he died, he left only debts, a fortune built on pillars of mud. I was left ruined. My mother died, my brothers grew up, they didn’t need me anymore. I am … incredibly alone.

Nora (searching and fleeting look at Henrik) So much unhappiness!

Cristina I can see looking at your house that you’re in a good position.

Nora And I will be in a better one. My husband, Torvald, was promoted to being the director of the bank. (To Henrik.) Thank you. Sometimes I think that you’re hard but with the promotion of Torvald you’ve been generous.

Henrik (smiles) You saw that?

Nora In the future, goodbye to money problems! (To Cristina.) Now I can help you.

Cristina Really?

Nora Yes. With what you need, Cristina.

Cristina I’m looking for work.

Nora I will speak to Torvald.

Cristina Thank you. I think that fortunately you have never known suffering or difficulties. And for not having known them, your gesture is worth all the more to me.

Nora (laughs) That I haven’t known them! Listen to what she...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Siamese Twins (1967)
• Mother by Trade (1999)
• As the Dream Dictates (2002)
• Asking Too Much (2004)
• Persistence (2007)
• Dear Ibsen, I Am Nora (2013)
• The Gift (2015)
• Acknowledgements
• Copyright