THE SALON OF ANUBIS

Or the Academy of Lilí and Danté
 

Grand magic and opera show

(Español) - (Català)

(foto: © David Ruano / TNC)


Músic:Joan Albert Amargós
Idea and libretto: Toni Rumbau
Directed by  Luca Valentino
Conducted by Joan Albert Amargós
Set design and construction: José Menchero
Magic consultant: Mag Lari

lighting: Quico Gutiérrez
Performed by Grupo Instrumental Barcelona 216
Internacional Relations: Dietrich Grosse
Executif production: Lola Davó - BITÓ
Coproduction: La Fanfarra / Grup Instrumental Barcelona 216/Festival d'Òpera de Butxaca i Noves Creacions

Production:
LA FANFARRA

 

CONTACT

 

Blog The Salón of Anubis
 

Presentation

Synopsis

Artistic Team

Libretto

The Team

Notes

 
 

THE SALON OF ANUBIS

 or The Academy of Lilí and Danté

 

Chamber opera for four voices and five instruments

 

Music by Joan Albert Amargós

Idea and libretto by Toni Rumbau

Directed by Luca Valentino

Set design and construction: José Menchero

Magic consultant: Mag Lari

Lighting: Quico Gutiérrez

 

 

Lilí: Mónica Luezas / María Hinojosa (soprano)

Danté: Marc Canturri / Toni Marsol (baritone)

Guest: Toni Comas / Miquel Cobos (tenor)

Rosa: Marta Valero / Anna Tobella (mezzo-soprano)

Puppet voice: Toni Rumbau

Assistant 1: Pau Gómez Vilar

Assistant 2: Susana Rodríguez Sánchez

 

Orchestra: Grupo Instrumental Barcelona 216

Piano: Daniel Espasa / Xavier Barbeta

Double bass: Luís Manuel Cojal

Violin: Carlota Amargós / José Oriol Alguero

Clarinet: Javier Castillo

French horn: Taul Garrido / Francisco Rodríguez

Musical director Barcelona 216: David Albet

Orchestra production: Noemí Sunyol

 

 Music by Joan Albert Amargós

Idea and libretto by Toni Rumbau

Director and dramaturge: Luca Valentino

Conducted by Joan Albert Amargós

Assistant director: Glòria Balañá

Catalan version: Toni Rumbau, Joan Albert Amargós and Marc Rosich
Set design and construction: José Menchero
Costume design and confection: Raquel Bonillo
Magic consultant: Mag Lari
Lighting design: Quico Gutiérrez
Video: Marta Hincapié
Video editor: Anastasi Rinos
Stage manager: Germano Bozzelli
Lighting technician: Silvia Kuchinow 
Stage hand: Ramón Beneito
Photographs: David Ruano
Graphic design: Mariano Rolando
International Relations: Dietrich Grosse
Production: LA FANFARRA S.L.
English translation: Rebecca Simpson
German translation:
Printer: Argra
Production assistant, drawings and rehearsal photographs: Jorge Raedó
Executive production: Lola Davó – BITÓ
Commissioned and co-produced by the Festival of New and Pocket Opera (CITART)
With the support of the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya
Collaborating institutions: Institut Ramón Llull, Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, Temporada Alta and the Bogliasco Foundation
 First performances October 2007:

 Dress rehearsal with audience: 29th September Auditorio de Cornellá, Barcelona

Première: 2nd October Theater am Stadtgarten, Winterthur, Switzerland

14th October: Teatro de Salt, Gerona, Temporada Alta

18th and 20th October: Staatstheater Darmstadt, Germany

24th to 28th October: Sala Pequeña, Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, Barcelona

 

 

Chamber opera for four voices and five instruments

 

Characters:

 

Danté-Thot (baritone)

Lilí-Anubis (soprano)

The Guest (tenor)

Rosa (mezzo-soprano)

  

MUSICIANS:

 

Piano

Violin

Double bass

Clarinet

French horn

 

 LIBRETTO

 

SCENE I

Welcome to the Academy of Lilí and Danté                               

  

(On entering the theatre, each member of the audience receives a numbered ticket; they are informed that it is for a raffle to be drawn during the show. On the ticket is written GRAND RAFFLE - SALON OF ANUBIS.  ACADEMY OF LILÍ AND DANTÉ.)

 

MUSICAL PRELUDE

 

Enter DANTÉ and LILÍ.

 

DANTÉ      Buenas noches, mes amis…

 

LILÍ            Hola, hola, mes chéris…

 

DANTÉ      Buenas noches, mes amis…

 

LILÍ            Hola, hola, mes chéris…

 

BOTH         Good evening everyone!

 

DANTÉ      Open the doors!

                   Come in! You’re all invited.

There’s room for everyone,

comfortable armchairs,

private rooms and divans,

and your questions will be satisfied.

 

LILÍ            To be born! To die!

                   Exhale, cease to breathe…

                   Abandon compulsion,

                   slow down at last!   

 

DANTÉ      Wake up, die…

                   The living already dead

                   trapped in time,

                   what makes you sleep?

                   Why live without living?

                   Wake up, die…

 

BOTH         Ah, le temps c’est fini…

                   Au revoir, mes amis…

 

LILÍ            Kick the bucket, push up the daisies,

                   what’s gone is gone…

 

DANTÉ      Messieurs, Mesdames, Ladies and Gentlemen…

 

BOTH         Welcome to the Academy of…

 

DANTÉ      Lilí (indicating her)

 

LILÍ            Danté (indicating him)

 

BOTH         Bienvenus! Benvenutti! Bienvenido!...

 


 

SCENE II

The Guest.

 

 

DANTÉ      My friends…Amigos

 

LILÍ            Mes chéris, mes amis, mes amis, mes chéris...

 

DANTÉ      We will use my hat

                   for the raffle.

 

(He takes off his hat and the raffle tickets are inside.)

 

LILÍ            The same number of raffle tickets here

                   as together you hold in your hands.

 

DANTÉ      And on every ticket,

                   a number.

 

LILÍ            An innocent hand,

                  ladies and gentlemen, will pick a ticket at random  

                   with its lucky number…

 

DANTÉ      Lilí… The most innocent of hands…

                   …the unforgiving hand…

                   Lilí…

 

DANTÉ and LILÍ       The moment has arrived!

 

(Lilí takes out a number from the top hat. Solemnity. Lilí is also Death and she has chosen her candidate.)

 

LILÍ            Fifty-four…

 

DANTÉ      Fifty-four!

 

(They search for the lucky winner. Unease in the audience. But the winner gives no sign of life. They repeat the operation).

 

DANTÉ      Ladies and gentlemen, my hat is full of life.

                   We will do the raffle again.

 

LILÍ            Twenty-three!

 

(The audience member is identified by the stage hands.)

 

LILÍ            Let’s see who the lucky winner is!

 

 

(The lucky man resists, his wife, ROSA, encourages him, but he doesn’t want to go. There is a small scene between them, and in this way the audience notice ROSA and will recognise her later. Finally, the lucky audience member agrees to go up on stage.)

 

 

LILÍ            S’il vous plaît, Monsieur, up here, please…

 

DANTÉ      Oh lucky mortal,

                   man touched by Fate,

                   when, picked out by her hand,

                   he climbs to the platform of Time.

 

(The GUEST climbs onto the stage.)

 

DANTÉ and LILÍ           Lucky member of the audience, 

                                      we just want you to tell us…

                                      …your first name…

                                      Your first name…Votre prénom…

 

GUEST       Alberto…Ha, ha, ha…

 

DANTÉ      Alberto… ? Hmm…Il y en a beaucoup…

                   Mais, peut-être…  (with magic concentration)

                   Voila! Monsieur Rodríguez y Carbonell ?

 

GUEST       Yes, yes. Well done, you’ve guessed it.

 

(They shake hands.)

 

DANTÉ      Delighted, Monsieur Rodríguez…

 

LILÍ            Enchantée, Monsieur Rodríguez, vous êtes très charmant

 

(The presenters settle down to guess more things about the GUEST.)

 

DANTÉ      You like football !

 

GUEST       Yes, a lot !

 

(Rosa, his wife, speaks from the stalls.)

 

ROSA         Yes, yes. He likes it too much!... Ha, ha, ha!...

 

LILÍ            And you do the football pools every week… !

 

GUEST       It’s true! How do you know?

 

ROSA         And he’s still waiting for number fourteen to come up! Ha, ha,

ha!

 

DANTÉ      And now, let’s see, the number of your identity card…(mimes magical concentration) 48 million, 311.046 P!

        

GUEST       It’s true! (He brings it out and shows it.)

 

DANTÉ      Thank you very much, Mr. Rodríguez, you can go back to join your wife now.

 

LILÍ            Enchantée, Monsieur Rodríguez…

 

GUEST       (Shaking hands with them.) Thank you so much, and congratulations.

 

(The GUEST exits through the wings. The audience should assume that he will come down steps at the side. The presenters turn to the audience, but, suddenly, the GUEST appears at the back of the stage).

 

DANTÉ      Mr. Rodríguez, you again!

 

LILÍ            Sit down, since you’ve come of your own accord…

 

GUEST       (Refusing to sit down) Thank you, but I’d like to go back to my seat…

 

DANTÉ      Oh, don’t worry,

                   given that you’re such a friendly fellow,

                   sit down Monsieur Rodríguez…

                  

LILÍ            Yes, be so good, sit down…

 

(The GUEST sits down uneasily. They proceed to guess further things about him. DANTÉ pulls out papers from various pockets including his breast-pocket, and reads details about the GUEST.)

 

DANTÉ      Good, let’s see what more we can find out about you. VoyonsVoyons… You were born on 4th August 1960?

                           

GUEST       Yes sir! The very day.

 

DANTÉ      …son of Fernando and María,

                   schoolboy with the Jesuits

                   a long career in engineering.

                   C’est comme ça ?

 

GUEST       You’re very well informed. You’ve got everything right.

                   How very amusing!

 

DANTÉ      Married,

                   with beautiful children,

 

GUEST       Well done, you’re guessing everything.

                   It’s amazing…

 

LILÍ            You chose a good path:

                   High-level recognition,

                   a convertible car…

                   trips all over the world…

                  

DANTÉ and LILÍ           And you have a season ticket for the opera!

 

GUEST       Oh, I’m not a great fan;

                   to be honest, it bores me, you know…

                   But since this was a kind of cabaret… ha, ha, ha…

                   If it wasn’t for my wife, I wouldn’t be here today…

                   ha ha ha… (rather nervous)

 

DANTÉ      Yes… Ha, ha, ha!

                   In this paragraph I see

that today you felt unwell, very unwell

and at eight thirty-four

you were admitted to hospital…

 

GUEST       What? Well I don’t remember that. What are you referring to?

 

DANTÉ      At eight forty-six

                   you entered a state of extreme stress,

                   …and by nightfall, at nine fifteen…

 

GUEST       Are you trying to be funny? (laughing)

                   I don’t remember any of that.

                   But anyhow, carry on, carry on…

 

DANTÉ      …alone in the room,

                   sudden death!

                   Your heart stopped.

 

LILI            Votre coeur, monsieur…

 

GUEST       Well, if you say so…

 

LILÍ            Oh, Cher monsieur Rodríguez, je dois vous féliciter,

                   Welcome! You are dead, Mr. Rodríguez.

                   Vous êtes mort!             

 

DANTÉ      Eh oui, vous êtes bien mort!...

                   Mes félicitations, Rodríguez.

                   C’est ravissant!...

 

(The GUEST laughs, as if it were all a joke. At this moment an usher appears in the stalls with a torch and requests that Mrs. Rosa Rodriguéz, the Guest’s wife, follow her, as there is an emergency.)

 

GUEST       The show’s a bit macabre, but well, what can you do?

That’s theatre for you.

 

LILÍ and DANTÉ          Oh, humour, what a great thing it is.

                                      Le théâtre, l’Opéra comique...

                                      But you are dead, well and truly dead…,

 

(Rosa gets up and leaves, accompanied by the usher. It is a disconcerting sequence of events.)                  

 

LILÍ and DANTÉ           Welcome to the Academy!

 

GUEST       Excuse me, please…

 

The GUEST searches for the exit again, wandering around the stage, but does not find it.

 

DANTÉ      Where are you going?

 

LILÍ            Where are you going?

 

GUEST       Rosa!... Rosa!... Rosa!! ...

 

ROSA         Alberto, Alberto!...

 

LILÍ            But where do you want to go?

 

DANTÉ      Monsieur Rodríguez.

(Danté and Lilí put him in a coffin-box which they have placed on a table with wheels. He laughs nervously. He is shut up in the box; his head protrudes from one end and his feet from the other.)


 

SCENE III

Sawn in half

 

 

GUEST       What are you doing? How dare you!

 

LILÍ and DANTÉ           Don’t worry.

                                      Sing, sing with us.

 

GUEST       (increasingly nervous and angry)

                   I don’t know how to sing…You’re mad…

                   Let me out of here! What do you think you’re doing…!

 

LILÍ            Ha, ha, ha…

                   Sing, sing your cares away!

                   Sing, sing with us…

 

DANTÉ      Oh Death, old friend,

                   childhood playmate,

                   give me your nectar of life

                   whilst, joyful, you ravish me…

 

LILÍ            Sing, sir, sing…Sing sir…(bis)

                   Monsieur, sing your cares away!

 

(LILÍ and DANTÉ push the GUEST around the stage, singing meanwhile and inviting him to sing.)

 

GUEST       Don’t try to make me sing.

                   Hey! I’ve paid for my seat;

                   it’s you who are the singers…

                   This is outrageous!

 

DANTÉ      Sing, Monsieur Rodríguez, sing… Monsieur Rodríguez.

                   And don’t worry, you haven’t thrown your money away.

                   There’s nothing to lose, here.

                   You’re in good hands.

 

LILÍ            Happy, he who allows himself to rest

in Moira’s bed,

and leaves his memory in peace

to wander freely!

Wander freely…

 

DANTÉ      Oh, cher Monsieur Rodríguez,

                   the living are so boring.

                   They only sing on stage.

                   But now that you are dead, you too can sing with us.

                   Sing, sir, sing, sing sir …

                   Sing, sir, sing, sing sir …

 

GUEST       You know where you can stuff that! Dead indeed!

                   Will you let me go, once and for all?…

 

DANTÉ AND LILÍ         Wake up, die…

                   The living and the dead

                   trapped in time.

                   What makes you sleep?

Why live without living?

                   Wake up, die…

 

(DANTÉ makes magical hand gestures then strikes the box which splits in two, separating the GUEST’s body into two halves.)

 

(The GUEST shrieks, but suddenly the sound transforms into a dramatic tenor’s top note and his singing voice joins with the presenters’ voices.)

 

GUEST       AAAhhhhh! Am I dead? Je suis mort?

                   Non je ne suis pas mort…

                   Nooooonnnnn… !

Arghhhh…

(He shrieks on top notes.)

 

DANTÉ and LILÍ          Happy, he who allows himself to rest

in Moira’s bed,

and leaves his memory in peace

to wander freely!

                                      Wander freely…

 

(DANTÉ and LILÍ parade the two halves of the separated coffin-table round the stage.)

 

GUEST, DANTÉ and LILÍ

How sweet when Death arrives,

                   how gently she embraces me,

                   at her kiss my eyes open

                   and the mask falls…

 

GUEST       I sing with you…

 

DANTÉ      To be born and die,

GUEST       To be born and die…

DANTÉ      … one expires, stops breathing…

GUEST       to be born and die…     

DANTÉ      Abandon compulsion,

GUEST       Abandon…

DANTÉ      stop at last!

GUEST       Stop at last!

 

LILÍ            In the blessed hours of grief,

                   in playful, merry death

                   our secret longings waken,

                   our deepest dreams…

 

DANTÉ and GUEST   Ah! Le temps c’est fini…

 

LILÍ            Au revoir, mes amis

 

GUEST       Ah! Le temps c’est fini…

                   Ah! Le temps c’est fini…         

Ah, oui, oui, c’est la vie!...

 

 

(The rhythm slacks off and the fun and games end at last. The part of the table that contains the GUEST’s legs is wheeled off stage. The other part rises up, hung on ropes and is placed on a barber’s chair.)

 

 

SCENE IV

The visitors

  

Only the upper half of the GUEST’s body now appears.

 

GUEST       Hey, you, you twoooooo!... Where are you…?

                   What’s got into you…?

                   And with the hurry I’m in, and everything I’ve got to do!

I’ve got an appointment tonight, you know, I can’t go like this!

                   I mean, haven’t you seen what a mess I’m in?

And where are my trousers?

                   Let me out of here!

                   This is an insult

                   I want to get out!

 

(DANTÉ and LILÍ, without paying any attention to the GUEST, change to represent the roles of the TEACHER and the NANNY, singing meanwhile.)

 

DANTÉ      Darkness is fertile

                   when it holds you to its breast;

                   give me your hand without fear

                   so as to pass through the night.

 

GUEST       This is an outrage!

                   You’re both mad!

                   Completely mad!

 

LILÍ            See the faces of the moon,

                   in the black cavities

                   where images peer out

                   from the features of your loved ones.

 

(DANTÉ and LILÍ have disguised themselves and, as their new characters, address the audience, singing all the time.)

 

DANTÉ      Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. García del Puente!...

 

LILÍ            And the great Madame Alicia Frufrú, Alicia Frufrú!

 

GARCÍA DEL PUENTE         So, what are we waiting for?...

 

FRUFRÚ    That’s what I say; they won’t have brought us here for

nothing… I’m an artist!

 

GARCÍA DEL PUENTE                   And I’m much more than that!

 

DANTÉ      Right away, sir, madam…

 

(The TEACHER addresses the GUEST.)

 

TEACHER  Rodríguez, hello, hello, how are you,

                   always so ironic…

                   Sit down and pay attention, Rodríguez, Rodríguez, Rodríguez.

 

GUEST       Sir, it’s you…

                   What are you doing here, sir, in this theatre?

 

TEACHER  Be quiet! What would you know!...

                   The trouble I had to educate you, teach you something,

                   but in the end you learnt.

                   Are you listening, Rodríguez?

 

GUEST       Yes, yes, sir…

 

TEACHER  You seem distracted…

                   And one has to pay attention, Rodríguez,

                   If you want to learn anything…

                   Listen Rodríguez.

 

GUEST       Sir, don’t say that.

                   I’m a big boy now,

                   I’ve grown up…

 

TEACHER  Grown up? You, grow up?

                   When did you grow up?

                   You’re still a child…!

 

(At this moment LILÍ approaches in the NANNY’s disguise.)

 

NANNY      My Alberto!

                   How I’ve longed to see you!

                   I’ve always remembered you; you were like a son to me…

 

GUEST       My darling nanny…

                   You’ve come to see me too…

 

(Her presence seems to irritate the old teacher, who wants no distractions to the attention required from his pupil.)

 

TEACHER  Madam, madam,

                   Don’t you see you’re getting in the way?

 

NANNY      Getting in the way?

                   The only one who’s in the way here is you!

 

TEACHER  How dare you!

                   What an insult to intelligence!

 

NANNY      Be quiet, you grumpy old man!

 

TEACHER  What! Be quiet, me?

                   Never!

 

NANNY      This gentleman doesn’t know who he’s talking to,

isn’t that right, my boy?

 

(NANNY sings her song,, the Song of Childhood.)

 

NANNY      Sweet the fragrance

                   of childhood’s paths,

                   when time passes

                   without hours,

                   and you put your hand in mine

                   and we walked with the wind,

                   through the chestnut wood

of dreams,

and we’re in the house

of summer holidays…

And the joyous night spins

its wheel of ringing bells…

 

TEACHER  But…Is she some country bumpkin?…

                   And you, Rodríguez, listen to me…

                   What a simpleton, what bad taste!

Enough!

 

(LILÍ sings the Song of childhood again. The GUEST sings with her.)

 

GUEST and LILÍ                   

Sweet the fragrance

                   of childhood’s paths,

                   when time passes

                   without hours,

                   and you put your hand in mine

                   and we walked with the wind,

                   through the chestnut wood

of dreams,

and we’re in the house

of summer holidays…

And the joyous night spins

its wheel of ringing bells…

                   …when time passes

                   without hours…

 

 

SCENE V

The singing, severed head

 

 

(DANTÉ and LILÍ put on masks of the gods Thot and Anubis, respectively. They approach the seat of the upper half of the GUEST.)

 

DANTÉ      The great moment has arrived,

                   Mr. Rodríguez. Shaving time!

 

GUEST       Oh really? And who are the barbers?

 

LILÍ            A bird and a dog…

 

GUEST       What are you doing?!

                   Have you gone mad?

 

(TRICK: SEVERING THE HEAD. Having closed the door they put a box over the head. large knives from their belts. They pass a sword under the base of the box. They carry the severed head to a table on one side. They remove the box, revealing the GUEST’s head on the table. TRICK: THE SEVERED HEAD WHICH SINGS.)

 

DANTÉ      Swiftly I answer the eternal call, oh souls.

                   with my bird’s beak I catch

                   intelligence and pleasure, astuteness and valour,

                   which I sell to clients, to the highest bidder.

                  

GUEST       What’s happening to me, where am I? ...

                   I feel myself fading

                   forgetting who I am.

                   Night engulfs me

                   and there’s not a single light.

                   Where am I if I can’t find myself?

 

LILÍ            Earth, mother earth, mother who supports me,

                   mother who gives me life,

                   and who gives power of death to my hands,

                   from your innards I come, called upon by the souls.

 

GUEST       Nothing stands up.

                   I try to catch myself

                   and I fall in pieces.

                   Broken crystals of my eyes…

                   Stars that cascade to the ground.

 

(On one side, a hospital trolley appears with a body covered by a sheet; it is the same table on which the divided box was, previously. THOT-DANTÉ has put on a doctor’s white coat, still wearing the mask of Thot. He exits momentarily through the wings and returns with Rosa, the GUEST’s wife who we have previously seen in the stalls. THOT-DANTÉ’s bearing is that of a doctor accompanying a dead man’s wife to see the body. As she sings, Rosa takes the GUEST’s neck scarf to keep.)

 

ROSA         Alberto, Alberto, noooo!

                   Why? Why?!!

 

GUEST (the severed head)

                 Rosa. I’m here!

                   I’m here!


(She doesn’t seem to hear him. She addresses the lifeless body on the table.)

 

ROSA         Alberto, why have you left me?

                   Why have you died?

 

GUEST       Don’t say that!

                   Don’t say that,

                   don’t ever say it again!

                   Do you hear me?

Never!

                   I’m not dead!

 

ROSA         Yesterday, we were together,

                   all four of us, so happy!

                   What shall I tell the children?

                   And me, what shall I do?

                   I’m so young, Alberto…

                   I love you,

                   Alberto, I love you so much,

                   but I love you alive!

 

(ROSA repeats her Aria, with inserts sung by the GUEST.)

 

ROSA Yesterday, we were together,

            all four of us, so happy!

            what shall I tell the children?

            And me, what shall I do?

            I’m so young, Alberto…

            I love you,

            Alberto, I love you so much,

            but I love you alive!

 

GUEST – ¡No me abandones,

Rosa, estoy vivo, vivo!

¡No te rindas a olvidarme!

            ¡Yo estoy junto a tí!

Debemos regresar a nuestra vida    alegre,

            a los años tan felices

          que vivimos juntos,

            los días felices de ayer y de mañana..

 

 

 

 

 

(DANTÉ and LILÍ, with their white coats and their masks of funerary gods, lead her gently away from the trolley to where she came from.)

 

ROSA (speaking) Yes, doctor, don’t worry,

                            I’ll calm down, doctor.

 

GUEST       Rosa, don’t go, don’t go…

                   Wait, wait for me…

                   Don’t leave me, Rosa!

 

(The trolley disappears with the body. DANTÉ and LILÍ remove their white coats. They approach the talking head.)

 

GUEST       This is an outrage!

                   I want my money back!

 

DANTÉ      Goodbye, Mr. Rodríguez,

                   take your leave and say goodbye,

                   we’ve enjoyed your company,

                   but your absence will be even more amusing.

 

LILÍ            Indeed, Mr. Rodríguez,

                   say goodbye and take your leave,

                   it’s been lovely to have you with us,

                   but without you it will be much better.

 

GUEST (speaking) I suppose you’re going to give me back my body,

                   I’ve had enough of jokes…

 

(They cover the head of the GUEST again with the box. The voice of the GUEST is still audible from inside.)

 

GUEST OFF (screaming)

         You don’t want me to report you, do you?...

         Listen, listen, hey you, youuuu…

         Let me out of here!...

 
 

SCENE VI

The cooking-pot

  

(Meanwhile, DANTÉ and LILÍ, with their masks of Thot and Anubis, prepare the table for the rituals to follow. On top of the box with which they covered the head, they place a lid with a handle. They turn the handle, and thus the head inside. They open the lid and bring out a lump of dough which the head has become. They knead it. They put it back inside and now put a metal cover over the box, turning it into a cauldron. They light a flame underneath.)

 

DANTÉ      Let the deceased return to nothingness

which previously gave him life.

 

LILÍ            Let the deceased return to nothingness

                   from which he was one day born.

 

DANTÉ and LILÍ 

Nothingness spins, wheel so fast,

                   back to life’s origins,

                   time spins, wheel so fierce,

                   essence of nothingness.

 

DANTÉ      Time becomes flesh,

                   and flesh, with age, comes to an end.

                   Thus living things turn to dust,

                   dry and shrivelled flesh.

 

LILÍ            With our hands we knead time,

                   meat and death rolled together;

                   living ingredients of time,

                   powdered meat roll.                

 

DANTÉ      The season’s soup baked in the oven.

                   Soup ball right on time.

 

LILÍ            And its wheel of things and days

                   spins in the saucepan over the fire.

 

DANTÉ      The season’s soup cooked on a low heat.

 

 

LILÍ            Time in a dough of powdered meat.

 

BOTH         Fire, fire!

 

LILÍ            The season’s soup cooked on a low heat.

 

DANTÉ      Fire which is time

                   Burning slowly.

 

LILÍ            Fire, fire!

 

(The cooking activity ends. From inside the cooking-pot, a puppet appears - a replica of the GUEST. The PUPPET speaks in a shrill voice – with a swazzle. From above the stage a bird cage descends.)

 

DANTÉ and LILÍ           Oh, avatars of the world,

                                     be merciful to the deceased…

 

PUPPET              Hey, listen. Are you two here again?

                            Enough talk of the deceased.

                            How tedious can you get!

 

DANTÉ and LILÍ  …let night not pull him to her breast.

                            And so that he be recognised

                            by his friends and enemies,

                            from now on, oh deceased one,

                            your name shall be Ro.

 

PUPPET-RO        Not Ro nor any other rubbish!

                            That’s what they called me when I was a child,

                            but I’m grown-up now

                            and my name is Rodríguez.

                            Let me go, once and for all,

                            I’m going to report you…

 

 

(DANTÉ and LILÍ take hold of the puppet and place him inside the cage. They exit. The puppet moves on its own, without anyone to manipulate him.)


 

 

SCENE VII

Ro in the cage

 

 

PUPPET-RO                 Hey, listen to me. Where are you going?

                                      Enough of jokes!

                                      I hate being called Ro,

                                      I’m not a child, you know?

                                      I’m called Rodríguez.

                                      And if you don’t let me out of here,

                                      as sure as two and two make four                                                              I’ll report you…

 

 

(At this moment the curtain at the back of the stage rises and various mirrors appear, circling. LILÍ-ANUBIS and THOT-DANTÉ approach the mirrors, put a cloth in front of one of them and, through the mirror the DOUBLE appears, the GUEST himself, dressed in white. RO interrupts him.)

 

DOUBLE             Where are you? I look for you and I cannot find you.

                            The present rushes from me,

                            and I can’t see the future.

                            Where are you?

 

PUPPET-RO        Listen to me, but what is this?

                            Where did this impostor come from?

                            Hey, you, body snatcher, what are you doing here?

 

(From amidst the circling mirrors the figure of ROSA emerges. She and the DOUBLE pass each other, without meeting, without seeing each other, like two ghosts who only hear themselves. The DOUBLE sings serenely; in a way he is beginning to accept the reality of his death. ROSA, too, sings with more serenity than before, although from the anguish of loss and solitude. Duo between ROSA and DOUBLE, with interventions by the PUPPET.)

 

ROSA                  Alberto, where are you?

 

PUPPET-RO        Rosa, hello, hello, I’m here, Rosa. Can’t you see me?

 

DOUBLE             I’ve been looking for you, for years and years…

 

ROSA                  Alberto, where are you?

                            Pain grips me

                            and I cannot bear the loneliness.

                            Why did you die, Alberto?

 

DOUBLE             The images are so alive

                            of the years of yesterday…

 

ROSA                  Where are you, Alberto?

 

DOUBLE             …moments without end,…

 

ROSA                  The empty space you’ve left

 

DOUBLE             …nights and days…

                           

ROSA                  …plunges me into anxiety…

 

DOUBLE             …which are still alive…!

 

PUPPET-RO        It’s outrageous! (spoken)

                            Who does he think he is?

                            You’re Mr. Nobody,

                            I’m the one who gives the orders around here!

                            Get out, get out of here!                   

 

ROSA                  I feel that you’re going,

                            that you’re leaving us and going far away

                            from your children and your loved ones,

                            that you’re sinking into oblivion

                            as if it were possible to forget…

                            Where are you, Alberto?

                            You went without a word,

                            and I’m beginning, painfully,

                            to long to feel different…

 

PUPPET-RO        Rosa, I’m here, here.

                            She must be stupid.

                            I’m heeeeere!

 

DOUBLE             Rosa, I see you in the mirror of my soul,

                            forming part of my being.

                            I hear your distant voice,

                            close by, beloved...

                            and you, Ro, I see you and I recognise myself,

                            a child, in the hallway of our house,

                            on the balconies that overlooked the street

                            while I dream of you from behind a pane of glass…

 

PUPPET-RO        Enough! Enough! Impostor, thief!

                            You’ve all conspired against me!

 

ROSA                  How time hurries

                            to wipe away your features!

                            I’m alone.

                            Where are you, if I can’t see you?

                            Where are you Alberto.

Sad and lonely night,

without your hand for company…

 

DOUBLE             I return once more

                            to the time of old-fashioned beaches,

                            beaches where I bathed,

                            beaches of time reflected in rock pools,

                            where I see myself and I see you,

                            in the mirror of my face…

 

ROSA                  Where are you, Alberto?

                            I’m so alone.

                            You went without a word,

                            and I’m beginning, mysteriously,

                            to long to feel different…

                            to be transformed…

                            What’s happening to me, if I cannot see myself?

                            Where am I?...

 

(Rosa goes. As she does so, the scarf that the GUEST was wearing and which she took when she visited his body, falls to the ground. He picks it up.)

 

PUPPET-RO        Rosa, are you blind?

                            I’m here, here! Can’t you see me?

 

DOUBLE    (Childhood Song)

                   Sweet the fragrance

                   of childhood’s paths,

                   when time passes

                   without hours,

                   and you put your hand in mine

                   and we walked with the wind,

                   through the chestnut wood

of dreams,

and we’re in the house

of summer holidays…

And the joyous night spins

its wheel of ringing bells…

                  When time passes

                   without hours…

 

        

(The DOUBLE puts the neck scarf dropped by ROSA over the cage. He removes the cloth and in the PUPPET’s place is a parrot.)

 


 

SCENE VIII

Shadows

 

 

(During the following aria, shadows appear on the curtain-screen at the back of the stage. Objects that have appeared in the show are projected: the puppet, the cage the masks of Thot and Anubis, and other, abstract forms. These forms are seen to be projected, also, by the reflections of the circling mirrors.)

 

(We have reached the end of the crescendo of transformation. The GUEST, himself converted into a magician – having turned the PUPPET into a parrot -, sings of his re-encounter with himself and of his acceptance of death, confronting face to face each of the masks that have pursued him.)

 

GUEST                At last I see you

                            in the illuminated darkness of the night,

                            you’re here, so close, so far away from me,

                            subject to the wheel of time

                            that never stops.

                            I see myself and I see you

                            at the bottom of the gaze

                            across the open mirror of my face.

                            I die at last

                            and living I watch you

                            across time

                            which is the house where I live.

                            Serene, I watch you

                            from the sphere of time

                            where I die and live,

                            where I die and live,

where I die and live.

 

(As the music begins for the final aria of the four voices – begun by the GUEST – he approaches the curtain-screen at the back and disappears in the sea which is projected on his back. Here the projection begins of filmed images which accompany the final aria, which ends the main body of the opera. Circular images which suggest cyclical time folded on itself, which unfolds with each new life. Waves of the sea, circles that form and disintegrate, images of childhood memories, rolling landscapes, wheels which turn, trees and paths…)

 

 

GUEST and then ALL

                            I return to the beach of old-fashioned waters,

                            waters where I bathed,

                            waters of time in rock pools,

                            waters of my naked body,

waters from the depths of the sea…

waters which drive the mill wheel of distant fields,

where I see myself and I see you,

mirror of clear waters,

time-pieces of wind in water mills,

and time turns the spokes of the wind

that never stops…

 

I return to the earth,

to the hub of the wheel,

where my breath comes and goes

with the bellow’s two faces.

I die, I die and I live.

And the waters of old-fashioned beaches turn,

waters where I bathed…

waters of time in rock pools,

                            waters of my naked body,

waters from the depths of the sea…

waters which drive the mill wheel of distant fields,

where I see myself and I see you,

where I see myself and I see you,

mirror of clear waters,

and time turns the spokes of the wind

that never stops…

I die, I die and I live…

 

Blackout.

 

 

 

EPILOGUE

 

 

(The stage appears as it did at the beginning of the show. Enter DANTÉ and LILÍ, but now the singers who embody these characters are the GUEST and ROSA, converted into the cabaret presenters. They repeat the raffle from the start of the show.)

 

 

DANTÉ      Buenas noches, mes amis…

 

LILÍ            Hola, hola, mes chéris…

 

DANTÉ      Buenas noches, mes amis…

 

LILÍ            Hola, hola, mes chéris…

 

BOTH         Good evening everyone!

 

DANTÉ      Open the doors!

                   Come in! You’re all invited.

(He takes off his hat and puts the raffle tickets inside.)

There’s enough luck for everyone.

I will put the raffle tickets,

shuffled, in my hat,

and your questions

will be satisfied.

 

LILÍ            To be born! To die!

                   Exhale, cease to breathe…

                   Abandon compulsion,

                   to stop at last!   

 

DANTÉ      Wake up, die…

                   The living already dead

                   trapped in time,

                   what makes you sleep?

                   Why live without living?

                   Wake up, die…

 

BOTH         Ah, le temps c’est fini…

                   Au revoir, mes amis…

 

DANTÉ      Wait, a hand will draw

for the next lucky guest …

 

LILÍ            Monsieurs, Mesdames, Ladies and Gentlemen...

Monsieurs, Mesdames, Ladies and Gentlemen...

 

BOTH                  Are you ready for the call of…

 

DANTÉ      Lilí! (indicating her)

 

LILÍ            Danté! (indicating him)

 

(in silence)

 

DANTÉ      The moment has arrived

                  The number is …

        

BOTH         Welcome!...

 

 

 

 

  

Contact and management:

Dietrich Grosse -Toni Rumbau

CITART – Centre d'Iniciatives del Teatre de les Arts S.L.

La Rambla, 75, 1º

08002 Barcelona

tel 933 100 117- 933 018 485

fax 933 176 229

email:

dietrichgrosse@mondigromax.com

tonirumbau@gmail.com

 

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