Diamonds before, dung after

By Rosario Stefanelli

Theatre. 
Day in a training organisation
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rosario
• Release date: Aug 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9791220837200

Book preview

Single Act

PERSONNEL

Rodolfo owner of diadung srl training organisation

Francesca employee

Enrico employee

Biagio trainee

Matteo trainee

Sonia trainee

Antonio teacher

Hannibal teacher

Attilio teacher

Aurelio owner of a training institution

Terenzio owner of a training agency and brother of Rodolfo

Tony the sheeef

Jacopo, actor

Cameramen

Other trainee

Cinzia, employee

Edoardo, aspiring trainee

UNIQUE ACT

Office of a training organisation. In the entrance hall there are two desks, one facing the other. Further back there is a larger one, surrounded by a glass cube. On either side are the doors to the training rooms. Opposite each other, two people are discussing. One is Rodolfo, the head of the company, and the other is Antonio, a teacher.

RODOLFO You made me come here at seven o'clock. What's gotten into you?

ANTONIO I'm not going there.

RODOLFO And you broke my balls early in the morning to tell me this? Do you know what I'm doing at this hour? Cuddling my daughter. I'm not even allowed to do that anymore? They're already remnants

ANTONIO I'm sorry, but I had to tell you.

RODOLFO well. You've said it. Now get into your stinking car and go and teach those poor devils.

ANTONIO No way

RODOLFO CONTRACTS MUST BE RESPECTED FOR GOD'S SAKE

ANTONIO It was a weakness

RODOLFO AND WHAT DO YOU EXPECT? TO COME AND WIPE YOUR ARSE AFTER YOUR FART HAS RELEASED A HUNDREDWEIGHT OF FLOWING POO?

ANTONIO All I'm saying is that you could replace me with someone else. You could send Attilio or Hannibal

RODOLFO They are already busy with other courses.

ANTONIO But you must understand that I find it difficult. I'm afraid

RODOLFO What a sissy. I'm afraid of four old men. Let me be clear! You may give it up, but you'll never set foot here again. And it won't be easy for you to get back

ANTONIO I've got a degree

RODOLFO Do you know how many people I've seen coming out of the market and begging with degrees at the traffic lights?

ANTONIO My God. But what can I teach in there? And who knows who I'll find? I'm scared shitless

RODOLFO better than those you find in these blocks (indicates the training rooms). Do you know how many ex-accountants or finance men you can meet? What do you think? That you'll only find non-EU citizens here? There are people you can learn a lot from.

ANTONIO Just the thought of seeing ........ makes me sick.

RODOLFO Come off it. You're being more tragic than you think. You'll see.... you'll thank me

ANTONIO Like hell I will. I'll need a psychoanalyst for sure. And I'll send you the bill. Let's hope so....

RODOLFO (looks at his watch) it's late. You should hurry up

Antonio goes out

RODOLFO What a pain in the ass. But he's right, he won't thank me for shit.

Rodolfo starts smoking a cigar. He sits on one of the two desks

RODOLFO (looks at the clock) even if it's early, it's always good to appear before everyone else. To make a sudden appearance. To cause a stir. And then, I don't know. Something amazing will happen. It is known. Every boss knows that. That's the difference with the underlings. The employee is such because he hangs on the lips of the one who knows how to use his tongue as a bridge to infinity. It is only necessary to have courage. One regrets not having had it before. After five years of working as a slave, I left. I thought I could make money out of these dead souls too. The guts come out when you understand. When you taste this (waves cigar). That the cancer is already taking shape. That if it catches you at retirement age, it's because it's sneaky. It wants to exhaust you and not let you enjoy the post-dated fruits. Every month it signs the little employee's paycheck and stuffs with dollars those who have grabbed the courage in the night of vaginal tarantas, narcotized by comfortable epidurals. And then there are the wives who make the difference. The wives of the bosses have a straight back. They refuse morphine injections. They go all the way through the pain. They emerge from opium-soaked depths sparkling with love, bubbling with madness. The bosses' wives resist their husbands' blinding fascism. They are in the trenches. They sigh at the daily abandonments. And they don't give up. And they don't give up. They cuddle the little one and whisper to the bitter end with desperate and foolish eyes that daddy will be here soon to embrace him

Enrico, a well-dressed employee, enters, wearing a suit and tie, followed by Biagio, a pot-bellied man dressed shabbily. A few grey hairs act as a carry-over. Biagio has a rucksack on his shoulders and a silver tray with coffee in his hands. With phlegm he places the cups on each desk.

BIAGIO Sugar Enrico?

ENRICO Yes please

Biagio avoids leaving one on the desk opposite Enrico's.

ENRICO Why didn't you leave the coffee for Francesca?

BIAGIO She has to breastfeed

ENRICO But her son is four years old.

BIAGIO I heard she's still breastfeeding him. At the first opportunity she takes them out

ENRICO Well

BIAGIO You're surprised! There are women who like to show them off