• Overview
• Staging information
• Translations
• Sample translations
• Production history

• Damned for Despair : ACT ONE Scene Twelve

Damned for Despair , translated by Laurence Boswell, Jonathan Thacker

ACT ONE Scene Twelve

Edition

Tirso de Molina. 1992. Damned for Despair, adapted and translated by Laurence Boswell with Jonathan Thacker. Bath, Absolute

pp. 31-3

Sample text

Enter PAULO and PEDRISCO

PEDRISCO:

You spoke to an angel?

Father, you’re blessed by God.

PAULO:

It is a blessing, brother.

A mysterious, holy gift.

PEDRISCO:

You’re twins in the spirit,

Who will share the same fate?

PAULO:

That was His holy word.

If Enrico is damned,

Then I’m damned also.

And if his soul’s saved,

Then I’ll be saved with him.

PEDRISCO:

He must be a holy man.

PAULO:

I believe he must be.

PEDRISCO:

Here is the Gate of the Sea.

PAULO:

And here I’ll wait for him.

The angel said he’d come.

Pause.

PEDRISCO:

Above that whitewashed inn,

Lived a fat Spanish chef.

Born in Valencia.

I was his best customer.

And just across the way,

Lived a very tall girl,

With blond plaited hair,

And thick muscular legs.

Some said she’d been a soldier.

Others thought she was a man.

Anyway, it was certain that

My friend, the chef, was ...

PAULO:

Oh, Satan, my enemy!

He’s tempting me with sinful

Thoughts of my past life.

Brother, listen to me.

PEDRISCO:

Yes, Father.

PAULO:

The Devil.

Taunts me with evil,

Memories of darkness,

Sick pleasures of the flesh.

(PAULO throws himself down to the ground.)

Come, brother, come, you must ...

PEDRISCO:

Oh dear! What’s happening?

PAULO:

I throw down my body

So that you can tread it.

Come, brother, come, you must

Stamp, stamp out wickedness!

Save me from temptation.

PEDRISCO:

Willingly, my father.

(He stamps.)

Am I doing this right?

PAULO:

Yes, brother.

PEDRISCO:

Does it hurt?

PAULO:

You must tread harder, brother.

Pay no heed to my pain.

PEDRISCO:

I shall pay no heed at all.

I’ll tread and tread again.

(Aside) I wonder if he’ll burst?

PAULO:

Tread, brother, tread me hard.

ROLDAN:

(Off) Enrico, don’t do it.

ENRICO:

(Off) I’ll punish the bastard.

He’s going into the sea.

PAULO:

Someone said ‘Enrico’.

ENRICO:

(Off) Why did God curse the world

With beggars?

CHERINOS:

(Off) Don’t kill him.

ENRICO:

(Off) And how will you stop me?

CELIA:

(Off) Please, one of you stop him.

ENRICO:

(Off) None of them would dare.

I’m doing him a favour.

(ENRICO throws beggar off a cliff into the sea)

His poverty is cured.

ROLDAN:

(Off) My God, he’s thrown him off.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Damned for Despair by Laurence Boswell, Jonathan Thacker is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Entry written by Kathleen Jeffs. Last updated on 4 October 2010.

Post a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment. Please log in or sign up for a free account.