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Play 1,500 words, 100 minutes running time To the left: an alley leads from the invisible street out to the front of the stage and then runs to the right, past a simple back room with a table and chairs, and a chest with a cloth over it, on which loaves of bread lie To the right: along the alley lies also the courtyard of the house, with a large tree and a pile of bulrush bundles Eva (70 years old) is dressed in red, the colour of passion; she is mending a dress Rana (60 years old) is dressed in purple, the royal colour; she is sitting at a table writing Zina (40 years old) is dressed in green, the colour of growth; she comes out of another room with two baskets, puts the loaves of bread in them, and addresses the audience in the theatre hall
First Act: The Major-domo ZINA [1-12] Ah, you are here! Then we can begin our story To tell or to keep silent that is the question in our country But that does not matter It is and remains our country - different from your country [10] And it is our time Long before your time But the story is also your story Rana stops writing Eva has given the dress to Zainab, who holds it out in front of her; Eva turns to face the audience Rana looks thoughtfully ahead Eva folds her hands over her mouth and Zina returns; she stops before the courtyard Zina sniffs the air and enters hesitantly End of the first act Second act: The Lieutenant Between the alley and the courtyard, a gate has been woven from the bulrush; the women insert palm branches into it End of the second act Third act: Honourable Life A strong wind; the gate has blown down and the tree has fallen on the roof of the back room; the roof has collapsed; the women are sitting on the ground and attaching ropes to a large canvas The wind is dying down From the alley, the women throw the ropes into the back room; there they pick up the ropes; in the corners, they throw the ropes over to the courtyard In the courtyard, the women pull the canvas taut over the back room; where the tree lies, they must wriggle the canvas down The canvas lies over the back room; now it needs to be lashed down Eva pulls hard on one of the ropes Zina ties a rope to the chest next to the door to the courtyard EVA [-] [E] [R] [Z] If something is possible if it could have happened then that is of interest to neighbours and girlfriends And the men who pick up on some of it are quick to pass judgment because no one is innocent so it must be true When a woman turns out to have been home alone she may have had visitors and been seduced into intimacies and if there are false witnesses who accuse her - with titillating details of a wrinkled dress and tousled hair after the description of a hasty shadow in her street - then that can be enough then she can already be condemned out of envy Premise Synopsis Summary Years |
Amsterdam, 2026-10-31
Keyword: Stories: tradition / order
