Barcelona (eBook)

Bess Wohl (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024 | 1. Auflage
96 Seiten
Faber & Faber (Verlag)
9780571395439 (ISBN)

Infos

I mean here I am in Spain with, like, a totally hot local Spanish guy from a tapas bar and we're drinking Rioja and I mean, if this isn't the ultimate romantic, like, you know, like Dos Equis guy fantasy? Do you guys have that commercial? Late one night in Barcelona, an American tourist goes home with a handsome Spaniard. What begins as a flirty one-night stand becomes an invitation to danger, as the personal and the political unsettlingly intertwine. By turns funny, sexy and surprising, Bess Wohl's seductive thriller opened at the Duke of York's Theatre, London, in October 2024.

Bess Wohl's other plays include Grand Horizons (Tony nomination for Best Play), Small Mouth Sounds (Outer Critics Circle Award), Make Believe (OCC Award), Camp Siegfried, Continuity, American Hero, Barcelona, Touched, In, Cats Talk Back and Pretty Filthy (Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Musical). Her plays have been produced at theatres in New York, around the US and internationally. Awards include the Sam Norkin Special Drama Desk Award, the Georgia Engel Playwriting Award, a MacDowell Fellowship and inclusion on Hollywood's Black List of Best Screenplays. Wohl is an Associate Artist with The Civilians, and an alumna of Ars Nova's Play Group. She has also written for film and television. She is a graduate of Harvard and the Yale School of Drama and lives in New York City.

Textauszug

A small apartment in Barcelona.

High windows that look out on an electric night sky and, from afar, the famous cathedral, La Sagrada Familia.

Cardboard boxes everywhere, as if someone is moving.

The key turns in the lock. A giggling, American woman bursts in, very drunk. Wearing only one shoe, a stiletto heel. This is Irene.

She is followed by Manuel, a Spaniard.

She throws herself at him with abandon. He responds, trying to keep up with her, stumbling as they go –

They move all around the apartment, desperate, clumsy, wild –

As things become more heated, she starts to giggle. It’s a bit awkward. She giggles once. Twice. Three times and then –

Irene It’s just that I never do this.

Manuel You mean –

Irene This! This. I mean, I never, ever –

Manuel It’s okay?

Irene Oh yeah, no, it’s okay, I’m good, it’s good – I’m good to go –

She jumps on top of him.

They continue.

He removes his jacket, struggling a bit, and she gets a good look at him, seemingly for the first time.

Hi. You’re cute.

Manuel Thank you.

Now she takes in the apartment.

Irene Oh my God, this is so cute! This is cute!

Manuel It is only small –

Irene Well yeah, but it’s cute. It’s really, really cute.

Manuel As I tell you, my primary house is in Madrid –

She gets on top of him, flirting.

Irene You know they say you really get to know a person, not from talking to them or whatever but from seeing where they live?

Manuel Who says that?

Irene They say it. Them.

Manuel Ah yes. Them. (Flirty.) Well, shall I show you how I really get to know a person?

Irene groans, giggles.

Irene Ooooh, okay, that’s cute, that’s really …

He pulls her to him again.

Wait wait wait. How do you say cute?

Manuel Lindo.

Irene (as Manuel) Lindo.

Manuel The tongue on the teeth like this.

Irene (Spanish accent) Like this?

Manuel Lindo.

Irene Lindo. How’s my tongue?

Manuel Good. That’s good. Lindo or you can say linda –

Irene Linda?

Manuel Masculine, feminine.

Irene No, it’s just that, I have an Aunt Linda.

Manuel Really.

Irene She is not cute. Anyway. Linda. Muy linda! It’s so Spanish. I really feel like I’m in Spain.

Manuel Because you are.

Irene Olé!

They continue to make out –

As they do, she can’t help glancing around the apartment with her eyes.

Cute curtains. Pottery Barn?

Manuel What?

Irene No, it’s just, I think I saw these exact curtains in a catalogue somewhere.

She lifts her head, sees something out the window.

And oh my God, look! I think I saw that in the guidebook.

She might scamper over to see it.

Manuel Ah yes, La Sagrada Familia.

Irene I saw that in the guidebook and now it’s right there, through a window.

Manuel Yes.

Irene Look at it. It looks exactly like in the guidebook. It looked better in the guidebook, actually.

Manuel That must be a really good guidebook.

She laughs.

Irene It is. (In a Spanish accent, suave like him.) It is a really good guidebook, a really good guidebook.

She starts to do a flirty, fun dance as she makes her way back to him.

(Still in a Spanish accent.) It is really, really good … Muy, muy, muy lindo guidebook … Muy lindo …

Until –

Halfway through this dance, she trips and falls hard.

Manuel Cuidado, cuidado! (In English.) Careful.

She curls up in foetal position on the floor. Drunk and in pain.

Alarmed, he runs to her.

Ah, you are okay? Let me – let me help you, please –

He slowly helps her move to the sofa. She sits, doubled over, the alcohol hitting her hard.

Irene (quietly) I think I almost fell.

Manuel You are … Are you …

She leans back onto him.

Clutches him suddenly, making him into her security blanky.

Unsure what to do, he strokes her hair.

Are you all to be okay?

She closes her eyes.

Irene Oh yeah, yeah … I’m all to be okay. I’m strong like bull. Grrrr. Did you know my ancestors literally walked across the United States of America? The pioneers? Ever heard of them?

Manuel Yes. I mean, not yours in particular, I don’t think.

Irene We still have the quilts.

Manuel Wow.

Irene They took a boat all the way from England to America, this was like many generations ago, and they started in Virginia, and, like, okay, can you imagine walking from, like, Virginia to Utah? That’s like, I don’t know how well you know American geography? But that’s, there’s the whole middle part, the Midwest, the … Oklahoma, Indiana, the Dakotas – you hit a giant lake, you have to go around it, you hit one crazy mountain range, you have to completely turn back –

Manuel You already tell me this.

Irene What?

Manuel At the bar you already tell me this whole story.

Irene I did?

Manuel Step by step by step.

Irene Oh God, have I been talking too much? I’m like total diarrhoea of the mouth syndrome.

Manuel What?

Irene It’s like, it’s like, coming out of my mouth is, um … Streams of poo.

Manuel stares at her.

It’s awkward.

So.

Manuel So.

Irene What’s a girl got to do to get a drink around here?!

Manuel You –

Irene Don’t answer that. I know what you’re thinking – you’re so bad!

Manuel You should probably not have any more.

Irene Oh, come on –

Manuel Anyway, I have nothing, apologies –

Irene (sing-song, cute and naughty) I don’t believe you …

Irene wanders, stumbles –

Manuel Please, careful –

Irene Ouch. Wait. (Sees a bottle on a shelf.) Oooh, what’s that, over there – aha!

Manuel No, please. No. That is only saving, being saved, for the special occasion.

Irene Perfect. Tonight is the special occasion – the universe brought us together.

Manuel No, truly –

Irene And maybe tonight is … Let’s pretend, okay? Let’s pretend tonight is … Our last night on earth.

He looks at her.

Their eyes meet.

And we have nowhere to be. Nothing to do in the morning. And so maybe just …

She looks at...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 14.11.2024
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Lyrik / Dramatik ► Dramatik / Theater
• ISBN-13: 9780571395439 / 9780571395439