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L'uomo nudo e l'uomo in frak - One Was Nude and the Other Wore Tails
(Synopsis by Sasha Still)

Note: in this play, the Primo Spazzino (first street-sweeper) is performed by three actors.

The show opens with two street sweepers coming on stage talking aimlessly. When we listen to them we are impressed with their sly language as they re philosophizing over nothing, everything, and God. At this point a woman walks in telling them she needs help to run away from the Vice Squad coming after her. The philosopher sweeper changes clothes to transforms himself into a ‘respectable man and then the two leave together.

The first sweeper, who moved the ‘philosopher one s trashcan, comes back into the scene and starts cleaning. When he throws the garbage away he finds a nude man inside the can. He explains the sweeper he s naked because his lover s husband came back home when he was there. Then he asks the sweeper a ride to his house, but he says he needs a tuxedo so that his wife won t notice anything. While they re talking a guard walks by, and the sweeper pretends he s talking to the trashcan he was cleaning.

After the guard has talked to him for a bit and left, a flower vendor wearing a tuxedo comes into the scene riding a bike. The sweeper makes him stop and tries to convince him to sell his suit. Finally they agree on a deal, and the two walks out to exchange clothes. As soon as they leave the guard walks back and notices the trashcan in the middle of the stage. The woman--a prostitute--comes back as well; her conversation now reveals how she tricked the philosopher sweeper earlier into thinking she needed help when actually she was just searching for a client. The woman agrees to wait by the trashcan while the guard goes look from somebody to come pick up the ‘abandoned can.

The sweeper wearing the tuxedo and the flower seller dressed as a street sweeper come back. The seller leaves, while the street sweeper talks to the woman telling her he s an ambassador. The two flirt a little and then the woman--believing he s an earl--gives him her hand to be kissed right before he leaves the scene pushing the trashcan. The guard gets back and asks about the trashcan; the woman answers that the ‘ambassador took it away as a prank/joke. The guard, followed by the woman, starts looking for the street sweeper.

The street sweeper comes back onto the stage, then the guard, and in the end the woman as well. The guard wants the trashcan back and doesn t listen to the sweeper who s telling him that it does belong to him. The nude man starts insulting the guard from inside the trashcan without being noticed by him. The guard thinks it was the sweeper who offended him and slaps him in the face, and then punches the nude man by mistake. The street sweeper gives the trashcan with the unconscious nude man to the guard.

After the guard walks out, the woman and the sweeper have a conversation. The woman thinks he s good speaker and that therefore he must be somebody important. He explains to her that he s just a street sweeper and that he has just lost his money and job. Although all of this happened he says he s happy because people believe he s somebody.

This way the plot shows a circular structure as the play opened with the two characters arguing over the same subject that now the sweeper and the woman are talking about. In the end we see the theme of truth that was before introduced by the philosopher sweeper as he was asking what the truth really was. We see that the appearance of the man wearing the tuxedo is all that matters to the guard, not whom he truly is. By believing he s a gentleman though, the guard gives the sweeper all he s got left c feeling like he s somebody.