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The Theatre Banner Exchange
Dinosaurs
By Santiago Serrano
Trans. by Carrie F. Wade
Scene from "Dinosaurs"
Copywright 1991
It is dawn. They are on a platform at empty train station. There is a bench over which there is one lamp. You can see a few billboards. Silvia enters from the right. She is a woman of 45 years. She is wearing an overcoat and carries a big purse. Everything about her conveys solemnity. As she is walking toward the bench, she looks around. She is noticeably nervous and scared. She seats herself and closes the top part of her coat. You can tell that it is cold. After a short while, she takes out a small book of prayers and songs and begins to sing.
SILVIA: In my darkest hour/ I am always with the lord/ Alleluia, alleluia/ I am always with the lord. (You see Nicholas approaching. He is a man of her same age. He is carrying a box and a newspaper in his hand. Upon seeing him, Silvia is startled and begins to sing louder and louder until she is almost screaming.) And if there is fear upon my path/ I always call upon the lord/ alleluia, alleluia. Christ is our Savior…. /
NICHOLAS: (He has sat down and no longer can stand the screams.) Please, lady, don’t scream like that. I can’t stand yelling…
SILVIA: (Reacting with difficulty.) I can’t …I can’t …I can’t help it. When I’m scared, I can’t … I can’t help it.
NICHOLAS: I didn’t mean to scare you. I came here because this is the only empty bench that has enough light so that I can read.
SILVIA: (Trembling.) That’s OK…I believe you…I believe you.
NICHOLAS: You’re trembling. Can I help you? (He tries to get near her.)
SILVIA: (Almost screaming.) Alleluia / Alleluia/ I am always with the Lord…
NICHOLAS: Enough please. I only wanted to help you.
SILVIA: I’ll be quiet if you don’t get too close.
NICHOLAS: That’s fine, I won’t move. (Somewhat short.) But just don’t start screaming again.
SILVIA: (After a long intense silence wherein Silvia acts as if she is reading, but is looking at him through the sides of her eyes.) Why are you being so quiet? Say something. What are you thinking? I’m scared to even think about what you might be thinking.
NICHOLAS: You are such a complicated woman. There’s seems to be no pleasing you.
SILVIA: You could be planning something.
NICHOLAS: If it will make you feel better, I am not planning anything. I neither have the energy nor the interest to plan anything. If I am quiet, it is only because I have nothing to say. So that puts an end to that. (He unfolds the newspaper, opens it and he begins to read almost hiding behind it.)
SILVIA: (After a long tense silence wherein Silvia tries to see what it is that Nicholas is doing behind the newspaper.) If you don’t want to talk then I will. Silence frightens me. You know…I am not used to going out at this time of night. Me, ten o’clock and I’m in bed. This, today, is just an accident… Oh, don’t feel obligated to answer me. Go ahead…. Keep on reading your newspaper. This train station is very ugly at this time in the morning… and there isn’t another train coming until three. I got confused and I took a train going in the wrong direction until I got to this station. It is a good thing that I noticed. Otherwise, I would have gone all the way to the last terminal. You needn’t answer me. So long as you listen to me, I’m fine. I left the hospital at about eleven this evening. Mama is ill, she’s hospitalized. They won’t let me sleep over. She doesn’t like anyone but me to take care of her. They are certain she will die. Poor thing… you don’t need to tell me that you’re sorry. We’re really close, mama, and I. She certainly does know how to travel. I am just a silly thing… mama tells me, distracted at all the time. What are you doing behind that paper?
NICHOLAS: (Has lost his patience.) Lady, please. First you’re scared of me and now your telling me your whole life’s story. I’ve got enough with my own life.
SILVIA: I don’t need you to listen to me. I talk because silence frightens me. If not, I’ll sing. I’ve been doing this since I was a kid. And if you weren’t here I would be fine just to talk the same, even to that lamp over there.
NICHOLAS: (Emphatic) Well thanks, Lady, thank you for your generosity. By all means, continue talking to yourself. (Picks up his newspaper, grabs his case and gets up.)
SILVIA: I didn’t mean to offend you. No … don’t go. I lied. It does matter whether or not someone is here. Don’t leave, please.
NICHOLOS: You should have thought of that before. (He disappears.)
SILVIA: (When she sees that he leaves she begins to sing each time louder and louder to make him return.) In my darkest hour / I am always with the Lord / Alleluia, Alleluia / Always with the Lord. ? If there is fear along my path / I always call upon the Lord /
NICHOLAS: (Returns exasperated.) Don’t scream, please. Don’t scream. Stop or I’m going to have to… (Closing in on her as if he is going to put his hand over her mouth.)
SILIVIA: (Frightened.) Don’t you even think about laying a hand on me. I apologized, I told you to stay, and you didn’t listen to me. I’m frightened. Haven’t you ever been frightened?
NICHOLAS: OK, I’ll stay, but don’t scream anymore. I beg you. I just can’t stand scream.
SILVIA: I promise you. I swear I won’t. (Nicholas sits down and opens his newspaper again. After a while.) What did you mean by you had enough with your own life?
NICHOLAS: Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it.
SILVIA: Maybe you’re not well and I am only thinking of myself. Mama always told me that I was selfish. I think she may be right. I didn’t mean to be selfish, I assure you. Tell me, what is going on in your life?
NICHOLAS: Nothing, lady, nothing.
SILIVA: Please don’t call me lady…it sounds so… well, I have never even been married. Just look at me as if I was your confessor. I know how to keep secrets well. And, surely, we will most likely never see each other again. It’s like when you’re traveling in a taxi. Haven’t you ever talked to a taxi driver?
NICHOLAS: No! And I have already told you that nothing is going on.
SILVIA: Why are you still so angry with me? I already asked you a million pardons.
NICHOLAS: You are a nightmare. What do you want me to tell you? Because I know I am going to have to tell you something in order for you to be satisfied. I … I am a fugitive.
SILVIA: A fugitive? (Frightened.) A fugitive of the law?
NICHOLAS: Of the law? Yes, if that makes you feel better. The police are after me and that is why I came here to sit next to you, so that I could blend in. You see this case? In it I have the goods.
SILIVA: The goods?
NICHOLAS: Yes, the goods.
SILVIA: (Holding on to her purse harder). So you are a thief … I am so sorry…so very sorry.
NICHOLAS: Don’t worry about me.
SILVIA: I feel sorry for the victims. Did you take a large sum? (Holds on to her purse even harder.)
NICHOLAS: Not as much as I should have. Are you frightened? Don’t worry, I don’t just steal from anyone.
SILVIA: Why…no…I am not frightened. What …what could you possibly steal from me. But… do you feel remorse?
NICHOLAS: No. I can assure you that I don’t, of other things I might be, but not of this.
SILVIA: Was it out of necessity? Because if it were because of necessity then it wouldn’t be as bad. Were you hungry?
NICHOLAS: What I did, I did because I was full, really full.
SILVIA: I don’t understand you. If you repent, God will forgive you. Just like he did the Good Thief.
NICHOLAS: What good thief?
SILIVIA: He was the one that was crucified along side Jesus. He forgave him.
NICHOLAS: And what should I do about the police?
SILVIA: That’s right, the police…I know, return what you stole and then it’ll all be over.
NICHOLAS: I don’t think so.
SILVIA: Is it that valuable?
NICHOLAS: It is to me.
SILIVIA: (Startled.) Did you hear that?
NICHOLAS: (With indifference) What?
SILVIA: That whistle.
NICHOLAS: And?
SILVIA: It’s the police. They’re going to apprehend you.
NICHOLAS: Don’t worry.
SILVIA: Over there, I see a policeman, at the end of the platform…run, come on, run.
NICHOLAS: What in the world are you saying?
SILVIA: (Forcing him.) Come on, there’s no time left. They haven’t spotted you yet. Hide under the bench. I won’t give you away.
NICHOLAS: Let me go.
SILVIA: Come on, hurry up. If they apprehend you won’t be able to return the stolen goods and they will surely send you to prison. Let me do this. (She finishes hiding him under the bench. She takes off her overcoat and covers him. She notices that the box is still out and she rests her feet on it trying to dissimulate.) In my darkest hour / I am always with the Lord / Alleluia, Alleluia. (Lowering her voice to Nicholas.) Don’t move. He is passing in front of us. (Continues to sing.) If there is fear along my path / I always call upon the Lord / Alleluia, Alleluia / Christ is our Savior / (To Nicholas.) Be still, he’s leaving. It won’t be long … OK were out of danger. (Nicholas comes out from under laughing each time louder.) What is the matter with you? Is it nerves?
NICHOLAS: (Trying to control his laughter.) It’s just… it’s just that…(Without being able to control his laughter.)
SILVIA: It’s just what?
NICHOLAS: You are so gullible. (Laughing out right.)
SILVIA: You lied to me. You are laughing at me. I believed you like an idiot.
NICHOLAS: I didn’t say that you were an idiot.
SILVIA: (Furiously she grabs her overcoat and her purse.) You lied to me.
NICHOLAS: What are you doing?
SILVIA: I am leaving.
NICHOLAS: Where?
SILVIA: I am walking to the next station.
NICHOLAS: Stay, please.
SILVIA: I’d rather die. You lied to me and I like an idiot…
NICHOLAS: I didn’t lie to you. There’s some truth in what I told you. I told you I was a fugitive and I stress that. You’re the one who started talking about the law, and of the police, and what ever else.
SILVIA: Look, I’m not interested. You lied to me…and that’s the end of that. (She wants to leave.)
NICHOLAS: (Interposing himself.) Now look who’s holding a grudge? Allow me, to at least, thank you.
SILVIA: As in thanks for letting you have fun at my expense?
NICHOLAS: You saved me. Even though it wasn’t necessary, but you saved me nonetheless.
SILVIA: (Boldly.) I would scream my hymns, if it weren’t that I don’t want to ruin my throat. And so what are you a fugitive of?
NICHOLAS: Of a woman. We argued for the umph-teenth time, and then I made my escape.
SILVIA: Over a little argument?
NICHOLAS: It was the most violent one of all our arguments.
SILVIA: You hit her? I understand. You felt yourself about to hit her and so you had to escape.
NICHOLAS: Don’t start inventing things, please. Yes, there were punches, but-
SILVIA: What I was saying was that…
NICHOLAS: Don’t make me embarrass myself in front of you.
SILVIA: It didn’t seem to matter to you that I was embarrassed. So finish explaining.
NICHOLAS: She gives the punches to me. She always does that. She starts off by throwing anything she can get her hands on at me and then she starts hitting me.
SILVIA: She hits you? …But…
NICHOLAS: Look at my arm. Over here she scratched me. She is a beast. And you can’t imagine how my back looks. It seems like a lie, doesn’t it? I am a battered man. She doesn’t control herself until I ask for her forgiveness.
SILVIA: Why don’t you turn her in?
NICHOLAS: Do you know what it would be like to go to the police and say: My wife beats me?
SILVIA: (She starts to laugh.) My wife beats me. If you think that I am going to believe you …I may be but I am not going to allow you…
NICHOLAS: (Sensitively.) She beats me. Yes, she beats me! We’ve been together for about 5 years. She isn’t a bad person, but when she gets upset, she turns into a mad woman. And it isn’t every day either. We have had some good times. She’s great company but… In the summer I can’t be with out a shirt…because of the marks. I know that I could hit her back too, but I can’t. I never could. I squeeze my fists really hard and I let her. She goes blind. It’s all very embarrassing, but it is true. I would rather be a thief rather than a …
SILVIA: Don’t say that, it will be all right.
NICHOLAS: Maybe she is sorry and crying. It always works out that way. But I’m not going back. I won’t. (Very excitedly.)
SILVIA: (She stands up behind him.) It’s all right. It’s not your fault. Relax. You’re too tense. (She puts her hands on his shoulders.) Relax. (She begins to message his neck.) Mama likes it when I message her back. It helps with the pain.
NICHOLAS: (In much pain.) OUCH!
SILVIA: I did it too hard, how clumsy of me.
NICHOLAS: No. (Holding Silvia’s hands.) I have a bruise. You have really soft hands… (Silvia pulls her hands back quickly.) The goods are the spoils of war. (They smile.) Do you want to know what’s inside?
SILVIA: No…there’s no need.
NICHOLAS: Come on…come here… I will show you.
SILVIA: Well, if you want to.
NICHOLAS: (He opens the case with much care. As he does this we see an accordion.) It belonged to my grandfather. He used to play in an underground café. He was quite the bohemian.
SILVIA: (Caressing the accordion.) It is beautiful.
NICHOLAS: It is one of the few things that have survived after five years of marriage. Oh, yes that and the scars too.
SILVIA: Do you know how to play it?
NICHOLAS: A little. I wanted to learn but I never had the time. Besides, she didn’t like it. Ah, the times I rescued it from the trash.
SILVIA: Strum it a little. (Nicholas plays a few chords) It’s beautiful…it gives me goose bumps.
NICHOLAS: Me too. Since I was a little boy, I wanted to be a musician.
SILVIA: Me, a nun.
NICHOLAS: A NUN?
SILVIA: But then I realized that mama would be left alone, daddy had already passed, and so I decided not to. I’ve always liked churches. The accordion must be something like a church organ, because it also gives me goose bumps.
NICHOLAS: I don’t know. It probably would have been better for me if I’d become a priest. At least there I would have been safe. I’ve always been afraid. You know I was making fun of your fear today, but I’m just as afraid, that’s why I came to sit here. And now it’s me that am the idiot.
SILVIA: I never thought that men could feel fear.
NICHOLAS: Then maybe I’m not a man.
SILVIA: Don’t say that. Any man who can take being hit by a woman without hitting her back is very much a man. And very brave.
NICHOLAS: Your just saying that.
SILVIA: Play! Why don’t you play a little something?
NICHOLAS: (He begins to play a tune. He begins to sing. Silvia joins him. After singing a bit more and not knowing the rest of the words, they applaud.) Wonderful, wonderful, what a great duo we make.
SILVIA: Bravo! Bravo!
NICHOLAS: Nicholas… my name is Nicholas. We’ve done a duo and haven’t even introduced ourselves yet.
SILVIA: I’m Silvia. (They handshake. They look into each other’s eyes. Then there is an uncomfortable silence.)
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