An Unpublished Comedy, Part One

AN UNPUBLISHED COMEDY  (UNA COMMEDIA INEDITA)
a play in one act by Italo Svevo

Translation from the Italian © by Leticia Austria

The 1880's.

The action takes place in a richly furnished room with an entrance door US. At SR is a door that leads to Elena's room, and a bit further upstage a door that leads to her study.

PENINI
ELENA, his wife
ADOLFO
ROSA, a servant

SCENE ONE

PENINI and ELENA

 

ELENA     (Emerging from the SR door, in an agitated state.)  No, no, no!

PENINI     (Calmly following with a cigar in his hand.)  But why?

ELENA     I deplore Venice!

PENINI     But I thought it was the city of your dreams. You wanted to spend our entire honeymoon trip there, and made me run about all day behind a tour guide, looking at things that interested me not at all: paintings, naked cherubs, elaborate churches. Everything seemed to look the same after a while. But you were so enthralled, I bore the torture for your sake. I rather liked the Piazza San Marco and the Florian, but you never let me linger in either place for long. The truth is, any Italian city gives you pleasure and me torture; particularly Venice.

ELENA     Venice gives me pleasure for eight, ten, twenty days; perhaps a month. Longer than that, I would go mad. If it rains, one is very likely to drown; for it is nearly impossible to keep one's umbrella open in those narrow streets. Those endless canals bore me, and those bridges that look as if they would collapse without warning; the entire city is a peril and may at any moment sink like a lot of old ships.

PENINI     Oh, good Lord!

ELENA     I know it is all my imagination, but I would not feel safe. And then, there are the Venetians themselves, who carry on all their business in the street—why, they even sleep in the street! 'Tis true; I saw one with my own eyes, fast asleep.

PENINI     You have only to step outside our own door to see vagrants sleeping in the street.

ELENA     At any rate, I am not going to Venice.

PENINI     Whether you wish to or no, matters not.

ELENA     If you are determined to go, then go alone, I shall stay here.

PENINI     (Jokingly, after a short pause.)  Come Elena, have you taken leave of your senses? It is your duty to accompany me. I might force you by law, if I so wished, but  (laughing) I'll wager I may convince you without resorting to such measures. You do not admit it, but you are very fond of living well, of having plenty of good food to eat and a soft bed in which to sleep. For that reason, you must go to Venice. We are not poor, but we are not so rich that we can maintain the life we are now living. You, with all your little luxuries, and I barely earning the money to pay for them! I have taken every precaution possible; I have borrowed from friends and acquaintances; and in these three years since our marriage, I've scarcely been able to pay for my cigars. I can show you the account books to prove it.

ELENA     Bravo!

PENINI     The fault is not mine. Every tenth person in this city is a broker; there are more brokers than there are businesses.

ELENA     It is the same in Venice.

PENINI     I don't know about that; but if I go, I'm sure to have enough to live on and perhaps more. I am to act as representative for Velfi & Son while I am there. I shall not have to spend the entire day doing business, and so I may have more time with you, my dear wife, whom I have thus far shamefully neglected.

ELENA     (Proudly.)  I've never complained.

PENINI     You could not, for you knew I was occupied with more serious matters.

ELENA     Well, then! Since I am of such little importance to you, you may leave me here!

PENINI     (Embracing her.)  On the contrary; you are to me the most important thing in this world.

ELENA     (Coldly pushing him away.)  I will not go. It is pointless—at least, for the moment—  (As if lost in her own thoughts.)

PENINI     For the moment? That's fine! I was not thinking of immediate departure. I know how women are, so I have seen to it that you would have time to bid all your friends farewell, put all your fripperies in order, and make your rounds of the city before taking leave of it. We need not leave until—until—

ELENA     Until—?

PENINI     (Calmly.) The end of next week.

ELENA     The end of next week? Never!  (Very upset.)  I am not going; absolutely not. I shall stay with Mamma and let you go alone. I'm not going, I tell you!

PENINI     What am I to do? They gave me this post on the express condition that I bring my wife.

 

SCENE TWO

(Enter ROSA.)

 

ROSA     Begging your pardon—ought I to prepare dinner?

PENINI     No, we dined out. That is, I have dined out.

ELENA     I shall not be dining.

PENINI     I'll take some coffee, Rosa.  (Exit ROSA.)  Please don't cry. Where is the lovely, happy face you wore when we were first married? You seem to have cast it off. Is it, perhaps, out of fashion?

ELENA     (Squares her shoulders.)

PENINI     I only want to know; I do not mean to annoy you.

ELENA     (Crying.)  You see how distressed I am. You might at least spare me your jokes.

PENINI     They are not jokes! In any case, you should not be distressed. There is still time—my employers could die; or you or I could die; and that would put an end to this whole business!

ELENA     Thank you for the thought. I had better go to bed.  (Exits.)

PENINI     But, Elena—!

ROSA     (Enters, carrying a cup of coffee.)  Your coffee, signore.

PENINI     Is there sugar in it?

ROSA     Yes, signore.

PENINI     Tell me—what is my wife's disposition when I am not at home?

ROSA     Disposition?

PENINI     Does she seem happy, despondent, cross?

ROSA     She is often cross with me.

PENINI     Well, that is an answer, but not the one I require. Is she happy?

ROSA     Sometimes, yes. Sometimes, no.

PENINI     Does she ever cry?

ROSA     Well, signor—please don't tell her I said so—but just now, in the hallway, I noticed she was crying.

PENINI     How observant of you.

ROSA     Anything else, signor?

PENINI     No, nothing, you may go. Tell my wife to come and see me, for I must go out. Wait just a moment!  (Takes a large envelope from the table.)  What was it my wife received in this envelope?

ROSA     It came from Signor Adolfo, but I do not know what it was.

PENINI     (Laughing.)  Ah, yes, the play!  (Reading the title of one of a stack of large books on the table.)  "The Posthumous Works of Lorenzo Stecchatti." Who delivered these books?

ROSA     (Nervously.)  Signor Adolfo brought them for your wife. I cannot read.

PENINI     (Seeing a rose on ROSA's dress, he becomes angry.)  I have told you repeatedly that roses must not be taken from the garden. The landlord will be very angry.

ROSA     I didn't take it from the garden; it came from a bouquet that was sent the signora by Signor Adolfo.  (Exits hurriedly.)

 

SCENE THREE

(Enter ELENA.)

 

PENINI     (To himself.)  Adolfo!

ELENA     You wish to say more kind things to me, I presume.

PENINI     (Gently.)  You always wear such lovely flowers in your hair—but I have asked you not to take them from the garden.

ELENA     These were a gift from Signor Adolfo.

PENINI     Ah, Adolfo!  (Short pause.)  Perhaps I need not go out tonight.  (Laughing.)  Speaking of Adolfo—how do you like his play?

ELENA     I've only read the first two acts. It does not appeal to me; I cannot finish it.

PENINI     (Satisfied.)  My poor wife, what burdens you take upon yourself! No matter how great a nuisance it is, you feel obliged to endure the tedium of reading it, and then try to speak well of it.

ELENA     No. Signor Adolfo is a young man of great humour and spirit to whom I would not hesitate to express my opinion.

PENINI     A young man of humour and spirit has written a poor play? Isn't that rather an incongruity?

ELENA     Even the most talented men have fallen short of their abilities at one time or another.

PENINI     (Affecting indifference.)  Adolfo has a low brow—very low indeed.  (ELENA shrugs.)  I believe I shall go out, after all! You may rest assured I shall not return before midnight.

ELENA     (Calmly placing a lamp on the windowsill.)  What do you mean, "rest assured"?

PENINI     (Looking knowingly at the lamp in the window.)  I mean to say that, if I should not return before midnight, you needn't worry. Good night.  (Kisses her forehead and exits.)

ELENA     Good night.  (Calling.)  Rosa!

ROSA     (Entering.) Yes, signora?

ELENA     Go and follow my husband with the lamp, then lock the door. But be ready to open it, should someone ring.  (There is the sound of the door closing.)  My husband has gone out. If anyone—if signor Adolfo should ring, bring him in here.  (Looks at herself in the mirror.)  I am going to my room for a moment.  (Exits.)

 



 

END SCENE

 

To be continued.