Hogar de paso Víctor Tamayo en Barranquilla

ACT 1 ACT ₂

S

�

A L E : 1 cm = 1 0 pages text (Social p lays) K E Y : On

The Villa Prigno on lake Coma

ACT 3

The Same _{I " I} "

ACT 4

A Park Slleet ilat. 'l years laler

ACT 5

by the las t of then.

Again ns in The Second Mrs the "blocking" of Act prefigures the pattern of the play as a whole ( See Figure

4) .

The entire ces t of charac ters ( except for a fmv servants ) i s presented in the firs t of its three episodes. The occasion is n dinner pnrty

whi ch Iris is giving before she lenves for a holiday in I taly . Ap'-"..rt frou Iris 1 s s ocial secretary Miss Pinsent , Fnnny Syl vn.in and. her niece Auren. V,y'se , and Mrs \lynninC', the gues ts are all :Jale a&oirers of the hostess. hrchibald Kane is n clos e friend ns well

ns the sole survivillC' executor of her l �te husband's es t�te , Co lonel

vlynning after nnny unavailing proposnls to her has narried , Croker

Hnrrineton is an ill-favoured niddle-aged ndnirer with dog-like

devo tion, Lo..urence Trenwi th i s the good-looking but poor young onn

with whoiil she is in love , nnd Frederick Maldonndo is a wealthy Jewish financier passionately et tracted to her but whon she finds repellent . Iris ' s probleo i s to choose between Trenwi th and

Mnldonado -- between love without luxury, or luxury without ( on her pnrt) love . 'Jhe catch is that her late husband , k:no1'line her feck­ lessness , has s tipulated in hi s will that she nust forfeit all of his noney if she renarrie s . In A c t

1

her vacillatine nature lends her

firs t to t ry to res olve her dil e� by secretly accepting Maldonado

( clioa.x of first scene) , then later to quali fy her acceptance by

s ti pulating that she be his wife in lli�ne only ( clincx of second scene ) ,

and finally to take Tremvi th wi th her to Italy and 'I'Tri te to

Maldonado breaking their engagenent ( clinax of third scene ) . In

terns of the patterning of entrances and exi ts in this n e t , Pinero begins by asseobling all the charac ters in the firs t s cen e, and in

the

s econd has

then take their leave one by one until Iri s is left alone with Maldonado. The pattern of these two episodes thus fore-

shndows th·'. t of the renninder of th& play, thoueh at this stage i t is Iris who dic tates terns. The third scene , con?rising the fateful

duoloeue between Iris and younr; Trenwi th1

provides the inciting incident

for the ua.in ac tion, end is balanced in the overall pa ttern

by duologues benfeen these two in the niddle scene of Ac t

3

and in the final ac t .

ilc t

2

is s e t i n Iris 1 s holiday villa overlooking lDke C ono on a fine Septcnbcr oorning. On e balcony outside aro several cages of birds , a significant touch as during the net I ris ' s friends ore

equn ted wi th then

(

,P.P.

2 94

and

308)

• Already , however.. she hc.s los t

one of her " caged birds" when Colonel Wynning narried, and ouch o f

Ac t

2

i s devo ted t o foreshadowing the dcpnrtur0 o f o thers . Fanny

Sylvain i s troubled at tho poss ibility of Iris conpronising herself

wi th �cenwi th and tells Harrington that in such circtms tance s she and her niece will " drop qui etly away . "

(.

p�

293)

'Tiremd th too is

fretting in his cage and s tates his deternination to s eek his fortune

in G:mada rather than be ke pt by I ris . The clinax of the ne t , how-

ever, is the revelation of an acconplished defection, that of Kane w·ho has absconded after s peculating away nearly all of Iris ' s noney, no t to nention the s avines of her fri ends . The roo t cause of these

defections , actual or threatened, is Iris ' s indolence nnd inabili ty

to do o ther than drift. She should , for oxanplo , l ong ago have ·nppcinted n second executor f or her estate . '.lhe net ends with the

reappearance of Maldonndo who , in contras t to Iris , i s ftlily capable of naking up his nind and getting what ho wants .

'Ihe setting of Act

3

is the snne !lS for th..:: previ ous ac t , but in the firs t of i ts threo s cenes i t i s now night several weeks later, and the state of tho apartnent in

d

icates that ano ther departure

is

firs t scene presents a leavetaking pcrty, but the group is no tably sm�ller and the Dt':!.in

departure

is thnt of Tremfi th for Canada . Nolr aho hc . .e o: ly n suall annui ty> Iris hns becor.1e engaged

to hin . However , she s till shrinks froo a life in the Cr�adian outback so Trem·ri th is t o leave alone , e s tablish hinself overseas , and return for her in a year or two . At tho end of the first

s cene he l eaves , gleeful ly escorted by :f-1nldon.:'.do , to go on board his ship· In the Llidcllc scene , hovwver, he h::..s returned n t Iris ' s reques t to b e alone wi th her throur,h tho night b efore the ship sails in the norning . The dawn is

(

inevitnbly

)

n lec.den ono and nos t of Iris ' s b ravado about s chooling herself t o endure p ovorty has

evapore1ted by the tine Trem'lith firJ.al ly let'.ves.

\'/ith hi s departure she has los t " the nost pri zed" of her cnged birds

(

P .

308)

and is no�'l about to be cage cl herse. lf by Ho.ldom.do. A

snall touch of business at the beginning of the third scene fore­ shadows this . After telling her nanservnnt that she will leave when she has s eon f1aldonado

(

who i s to give her a re:vort of Trenwi th ' s sniling

)

, she o rders the on.nservant to put the rer:ainine birdcage in her cnrriage and tips hin vri th a handful of gold s overeigns 1-rhich he

carries out in the cage . The irJ.i".f';e of the gold c oins in the bird-

cage exa c tly SUC3 U? Iris ' s future situntion. Thi s touch is then followed up by the nos t celebrated piece of �agecrnft in the play. I t i s prepnrcd vlhen f.fnldon..'1do enters D.lld , des pi te Iris ' s pro tes tations that she is deterJined to live s olely on her nengre incone , forces a

chequebook on her to use if she should want any littl e luxury . No s ooner has he left tho.n Auren Vys e enters end innocently nentions that she has been invi ted to j oin Miss �insent

(

whon Iris has been forced t o disniss because of her s trai tened ncans

)

in s e tting

up

n snall bus iness

if they cnn find several hundred pounds capit�l. Iris , >vi thou t e nonent ' s thought , writes her out a cheque for the whol e sun frou Maldonndo ' s book , and as she lonves at tho end of the ac t guil tily

slips the chequebook into her handbag. The crisis of the play and

its resolution are thus expressed throuGh a couple of actions and a single prop.

Ac t

4

shovTS Iris two years later set up in a Park Street

flat

as Maldonndo's Dis tress . Apart fron her keeper. sho now hn.s only one friend left

--

dog-like

Croker Harrington who has also gone dovm in the world. The net is fraoed by another synbolic use o f props . A t the b eginning when Maldonado lets hinself into the depnrtnent un­ announced Iris

asks hin

for his key whi ch she puts in n

vase.

Shortly after, Harrington c nlls nnd tells Iris

(

Mnldonndo having &one into the nex t roou

)

that Tremri th ha c.� returned to London and is try- ing to find her. &o nsks a�rrington to get Trenwith to call on her

that night and though

the

errand is to Harrington a final huniliation

he at las t agrees to d o so . \'l hen, however , Maldonado coues back into the roon he di scovers in the w�stepaper

basket

tho bits of a not e which Iris had written for TremTi t h but torn up. Uns een by her,

Maldonado fits the �i eces toge ther , roads the nessngo , nnd then

s teal thily rec overs hi s key. 'lhe net curtain fells as he lenves the

apartoent.

This

business wi th the key func tions on two leve ls-- on the narrative one it is a clever ne thod of prepe.ring for tho final confrontation without the use of n s ingle word of dialogue , and on the syobolic level it

enphasises,

without being too obvi ous ebout i t , Iris ' s real position e.s 11 0nly a bird in n gilded c

a

ge".

Tho fifth and final ne t is brief. Firs t cones the obl igatory

s orry"

(

p� .. 4 1 4ff .

)

as , horrified nt Iri s ' s confes sion, ho leo.ves her fo r good. Then Maldonndo , who hns of course been eavesdropping, confronts Iris wi th hur doublc-decling nnd orders her to pack her bngs and go. As sho do es so nnd the curtnin fnlls , Ma.ldonn.do

furiously the china. and bric-a-brac fron the

�verturns the table wi th a kick ; a cha.ir

in the • • • dnshos it to tho floor Pcncl breaks it into

(

p .

423)

. .b.cc ording to ililli�.n Archer;

50

Pinero when wri ting the

play had H t firs t intended to end it by having �1nldonado thr ottle

Iris , but when he cnne to the point he realised that thi s was un-

noces sf.'.ry. The s truc ture c:tnd sequentir..l patternine had cl early shown

the progressive heriDing in of Iri s unti l she had no thing left but her Her expulsion fron it �nd its destruc tion provi�o exactly the

right conclusion.

Al though the net struc ture of the play is unuaml for Pinero , the patterning is consistent , nnd obltiously

(

despi to the nodified ending

)

nus t have b e en cnrefully thought out in advance of the nc tunl wri ting

of the dialogue. 'lho play i s , in na.ny ways , Pinero ' s nost successful

attenpt at a synthesis of charac ter portrayal, renlistic narrative and thenntic pnt terning. The c entral chara.ctor, however , is rather

weak to sustain an a.ction of this length nnd tho rol e proved diffi cult to cast in the origino.l produc tion of the play. Iris , therefore , did no t achi eve � very successful run. T his is pro b 1�bly the reo.son thn. t

Pinero ' s later s ocial dran:::.s show a gradua.l nave a-...my fron concentrat­

ing on n single charac ter towa.rds the involving of a large group in

the narrative .

thenntically a c onpanion play to

�.

shows the beginning of this trend . I t i s .� s entinental piece in four nets and an

to the degencr-".ltc clutches of a.n indolent philanderer appropriately n<>ned Letchnere , but i t was saved in perforne.nce by a rio tous

reste.ur.<:>.nt scene in the third act i'lhich involves the entire cas t including Letty ' s girl-friends , their young non, her well-to-do but unpleas0nt boss

(

the party celebrates and to�·unates her engngenont to this conrs 8 individual

)

P Letchnore r�nd c. nuuber of others .

'llie

pley ' s tone is n curious blend of sntire f sontinent nnd subduod nelodr::ma, Bil.d tlwro -:trc frequent conings and goir.gs wi th nt tines an nrtific iali ty of po. tterning uhich c ones clos e to undern.inc the naturali s ti c detail. In Ac t 2 , for exnnplo , there are successive entrances by the younG nen wi th vrhon Le tty nnd her chuns ass ociate - a cion.r!ercial travellerp an insurance salesnc.n and n pho tographer -

ec.ch bringi ng the heroine a plnte of s.o.vouries and ench in turn being asked by her to wait a lit tl e loncer for nonoy she has borrowed, and in Ac t

3

the sane non go throuGh sinilar routines in successive

sequences to try to get the pc'1 trom�go of Letty 1 s boss. Elsewhere

there arc sub tle touche s of dotnil and sooe clever fore shadowing of developoents , but the play as a whole is unsntisfnc to ry because of

i ts uncertainty of tone and s tyle . Its shape too is awkward because Pinero dec ided to put the clin".lx

(

L.otty ' s rej ec ti on of Letchnere

)

nt the end of the fourth act and to follow this wi th a cluosy epil ogue shovnng how a couple o f years later the virtuous were qui etly pros pering nnd the decadent were s lowly languishing . Here the play does lapse into n victorian sentinentnlity whi ch Pinero usually avoided in hi s social dr<:mas . Neve rtheless the group sa�nes generally show skilful orches tration, and Pinero ' s work on these undoubtcuzy helped to prepare hiD for the wri ting of his next two s ocial drmlas in vThi ch groups of chnrncters nre expertly integrated into interesting and effec tive single.-n-ction narratives .

I :V

Pinero 1 s las t three s oci.:J.l d raoos of consequence -

�

House in The Thunderbolt and Mid- Channel - are hi s nost iopress ive . They nro nl l. cast in the rogulnr four-ne t pa ttern nnd

nre tightly constructed with s trong clinnxes nnd continuing interes t through to thG finnl curtains . In addi tion, the firs t two plays pre s ent n high proportion of ensenble scones without in the lenst obscuring the progress of the plo ts . There is an econouy �nd ens e !}bout QJ.l three plays '<Thi ch ind icate Pinero ' s conplete control of his naterinl . In this connection i t is \vorthy of no te that in ench of thon tho inportnnt enc ounters nre developed nt s ono l en�th instead of being broken up by the ontrnncos of o ther chcrnc ters introducing new conplicntions. Syobolic touches both in ��tterning end business , however, are les s apparent than in the earlier plays . One reason for this nay be that Pinero f ound thnt orchestrating the group scenes while keeping a firn hand on the narrative was enough f or hin to hnndle , but it is probable thnt his cooni tnent to realis tic effect wns the onin cause. Audi ences by this tine hcd becone very

cons cious of the artificiality of the vell-nnde play, so touches whi ch night enphcsis o this h�d to be used, if nt all , very s paringly.

The bas ic reason why Pinero in His Hous0 in Order nnd The

�underbolt wns nble to conbine ensenble s cenes with tight narrative is that in each play he presents the group �s nn enti ty -- n kind of conpo si� chnrnc ter -- rather than as a c ollection of indivi duals .

Bo th groups are , in fnc t, fnni lies . In His House in Order the heroine is pi tted agains t the group antagoni sn of the Ridgeleys , and

�

- Thunderbolt carri es tho nethod to i ts l ogical conclusion by nnking the Mortiocre fnni ly the protagoni s t in the nc tion . The

nenbers of ench fanily hunt together like a wolf peck. they

generally all cone and go together, and when they get their teeth

int o an outsider they do their utoo st to s trip hin or her to the bone . This tends to reduce tho nunber and extend the length of the

sequences of the plays in which they appear. A brief extra c t of dinl oeue fron Act

4

of His House in Order in which the Ridgeways turn for n nonent fron their c ontinual worrying of the heroine to having 11 nibble at the nevr French governess .. gives n representative sanple of the wny in whi ch these fnnily groups opera.te:

LADY

RIDGELEY . The ono di scordant note • • • was Miss Tony.

GERALDINE . I agree , nother. hatted.

She wns overgown

e

d and over- LADY RIDGELEY . For a person of her position, atroci ously. SIR DANIEL . Showy. Yes , showy.

PRYCE. If you will enaage n foreigner --

( p. 41 5-6 )

In document Propuesta de diseño: Hogar de paso para refugiados en la comuna centro de Bucaramanga (página 62-82)