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• Thebas Motel : SCENE ONE, excerpt 1 , SCENE ONE, excerpt 2 , SCENE TWO, excerpt 1 , SCENE TWO, excerpt 2

Thebas Motel, translated by James Nee

SCENE ONE, excerpt 1

Edition

González Cruz, Luis Miguel. n.d. Thebas Motel, trans. James Nee. Available on the Teatro del Astillero website at http://www.teatrodelastillero.es/pdf/thebas_eng_nee.pdf [accessed April 2011] (Online Publication)

p. 3

Context:

Selene and Marino are hiding out in their motel room after the bank robbery. Marino takes the opportunity to confess his love for Selene. She initially resists, but in the end admits she shares her feelings.

Sample text

Spotlights shine in the window. SELENE looks out.

SELENE:

There they go again.

MARINO:

The coppers.

He hides the revolver among his clothing and then approaches the window.

MARINO:

Kiss me. Everyone does the same in a place like this.

They kiss. They kiss even though SELENE finds it a bit odd. The spotlights disappear from the window but they remain embraced in their passionate kiss. SELENE comes back to reality and tries to let go of MARINO, but gives up in light of his insistence. Eventually they separate and SELENE moves away to lean on the window sill.

MARINO:

Selene…

They kiss again. But this time she doesn’t put up a fight.

SELENE:

What are you doing?

MARINO:

I love you, I’ve loved you since the first time I saw you. And you love me too.

SELENE:

Don’t be silly. You’re just a kid and I…

MARINO:

I love you.

SELENE:

Leave me alone. I can’t belong to anyone any more, I once belonged to another man, you need something else, someone young… someone who… Besides, not long ago… It just can't be. The life we lead… Believe me, it just wouldn’t work out.

MARINO puts his hand over Selene’s mouth as if to strangle her. With his own mouth he gives her another kiss. She puts up a struggle, but little by little she stops resisting.

MARINO:

I love you.

He slowly takes his hand off Selene’s face.

SELENE:

Marino … you’ve realised … you’ve realised from the very beginning. What a fool I’ve been trying to hide it.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Thebas Motel by James Nee is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

SCENE ONE, excerpt 2

Edition

González Cruz, Luis Miguel. n.d. Thebas Motel, trans. James Nee. Available on the Teatro del Astillero website at http://www.teatrodelastillero.es/pdf/thebas_eng_nee.pdf [accessed April 2011] (Online Publication)

pp. 5-6

Context:

Selene worries about what their two young accomplices will think of her new relationship with Marino.

Sample text

SELENE:

It’ll take them a while to get used to the idea. In their mind I cannot belong to any other man but Pastor. Just imagine, they made a blood pact. They swore to avenge his killer. They swore not to stop until finding him. At any price.

MARINO:

Why didn’t they do it?

SELENE:

As if it were so easy … we don’t know who did it.

MARINO:

You were working for the Colombians.

SELENE:

The same as you.

MARINO grabs a beer and opens it.

MARINO:

They must have clues. Do you want one?

SELENE:

No, no. I prefer to remain calm. I’d like to sleep … to rest finally.

MARINO:

Go to bed … I’ll turn off the radio.

SELENE:

No … no. I can’t sleep.

MARINO:

How did your husband die?

SELENE:

It was terrible. The lorry that he was driving caught fire and … he was completely charred, beyond recognition. He was already dead anyway. They had already strangled him with either wire or chain. And they did this as they slit his throat. It was awful. His whole body… completely disfigured.

MARINO:

The Colombian calling card. It’s their handiwork. You had better forget it. The ones that did this are no slouches. And if the Colombians are behind this it could be dangerous.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Thebas Motel by James Nee is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

SCENE TWO, excerpt 1

Edition

González Cruz, Luis Miguel. n.d. Thebas Motel, trans. James Nee. Available on the Teatro del Astillero website at http://www.teatrodelastillero.es/pdf/thebas_eng_nee.pdf [accessed April 2011] (Online Publication)

pp. 15-16

Context:

Selene discovers that Marino killed her husband, Pastor.

Sample text

SELENE shakes the envelope to hear if its contents are metallic and to see how they slide around.

SELENE:

Are they coins?

MARINO:

Cold, very cold…

SELENE:

Diamonds?

MARINO:

Are you mad?

SELENE:

I give up.

MARINO:

You can’t.

Suddenly SELENE tears the envelope and the medallion comes rolling out. MARINO laughs, but SELENE kneels down in amazement over the discovery.

MARINO:

How odd…

SELENE: (Frightened.)

It’s true, it’s all true. It’s all true…

MARINO:

Selene…

SELENE:

You killer! You murderer! So it’s true after all. You really are a killer…

MARINO:

What’s got into you?

SELENE:

You’re crazy. This is Pastor’s medallion. He always carried it with him. He didn’t even take it off to go to bed.

MARINO:

Pastor?

SELENE:

It stained his neck, but he never took it off, not even one minute. And yet, it wasn’t there when they found his body…

MARINO:

Pastor was the one who drove that heap of a truck? The one who swiped the coke from the Colombians?

SELENE:

Marino!

MARINO:

Yeah … he wanted the goods all for himself. That’s why they had to bump him off.

SELENE:

Bump him off?

MARINO:

The Colombians. They offered me the job.

SELENE:

It was you.

MARINO:

The last dirty job I ever did for them. I didn’t like it. I didn’t care about killing. It wasn’t the first time; it wouldn’t be the last. But to kill like that … I saw how the Colombians cut the wings of a loser. I realized that it could happen to anyone, even to me. This is the last time, I said to myself, and I saw that medallion around his neck. An awful scene…

SELENE:

Like sheep to the slaughter…

MARINO:

Yeah, I killed him. I saw the mess, the awful mess. I told myself I wouldn’t kill again, I’d never take on another hit job. That’s why I took his medallion.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Thebas Motel by James Nee is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

SCENE TWO, excerpt 2

Edition

González Cruz, Luis Miguel. n.d. Thebas Motel, trans. James Nee. Available on the Teatro del Astillero website at http://www.teatrodelastillero.es/pdf/thebas_eng_nee.pdf [accessed April 2011] (Online Publication)

p. 23

Context:

Selene and Marino realise that they are mother and son.

Sample text

SELENE:

This is impossible. That man made only two … and then he died.

MARINO holds the medallion up. Frightened, SELENE stands up, covering her mouth. The first bolt of lightning lights up the room, followed by a deafening thunderclap. The telephone stops ringing.

MARINO:

Two?

SELENE takes the medallion from MARINO and takes a close look at it.

SELENE:

One for Pastor and one for Manuel, our son.

MARINO:

No, the other was mine. I was surprised to see another one like mine. I didn’t think there was anyone else in this world with taste as bad as mine. There’s something upsetting about them.

SELENE:

Pastor had two medallions made.

MARINO:

Bleeding medallions! He also put his nose where it didn’t belong. In the beginning they let him live, but then … he had it coming. Who was the other one for? For you?

SELENE:

For you.

MARINO:

For me?

MARINO:

Manuel? No, it always, it was always with me. It was a gift of the gods. That’s what they used to say, a gift of the gods because it saved my life. A fisherman saw it shining and he jumped into the water. I was in a small life raft, just drifting…

SELENE:

The Colombians, they kidnapped you when you were still a child.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Thebas Motel by James Nee is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Entry written by Gwynneth Dowling. Last updated on 8 May 2011.

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