First published in 1990 by Oberon Books Ltd
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Translation copyright © Ranjit Bolt, 1990
Ranjit Bolt is hereby identified as author of this translation in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The author has asserted his moral rights.
All rights whatsoever in this play are strictly reserved and application for performance etc. should be made before commencement of rehearsal to Curtis Brown Group Ltd., 5th Floor, Haymarket House, 28/29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4SP (cb@curtisbrown.co.uk). No performance may be given unless a licence has been obtained, and no alterations may be made in the title or the text of the play without the author’s prior written consent.
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PB ISBN: 9780948230363
E ISBN: 9781783192571
Cover design by James Illman
Converted by Replika Press PVT Ltd., India
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Part One
Part Two
In memory of Christopher Chetwood
A few months ago [1990], when I was working as an investment advisor, I got a call from John Retallack of the Oxford Stage Company. He said he had seen the Old Vic production of The Liar, and would I like to try my hand at José Zorrilla’s Don Juan Tenorio (which was apparently one of the most popular plays in the Spanish speaking world, although virtually unknown elsewhere). I was cagey at first. There were two basic problems. The first was that I imagined the play was in prose (since 19th century plays tend to be in prose), whereas verse was my forte (if I had a forte). Secondly, and more importantly, I guessed the play must be in Spanish (since people called José, in whatever century, have tended to write in Spanish), whereas I myself did not know any Spanish.
Half an hour later there was a message on my desk: “John Retalic (Retaluck?) called – says play in verse.” I called John to accept the commission – then went straight to Grant & Cutler, bought a copy and began work that evening. Unfortunately, I had omitted to purchase a Spanish dictionary, which must be essential for anyone translating from the Spanish – let alone someone who doesn’t know any Spanish. Two days later, now equipped with such a dictionary, I started again and found (hardly surprisingly) that I had completly mis-translated the first eight lines, which was as far as I had got, muddling through on a mixture of Latin and Italian. But thereafter (and with occasional recourse to a rather plodding crib) I never looked back. The extraordinary energy and versatility of Zorrilla’s verse – by turns rough-hewn and elegant, hardbitten and sentimental (all things, in short, to all men), not to mention his raw sense of theatre, and my own excitement at discovering both a new play and a new language, simply swept me along.
I would not claim for one minute that this is an entirely “faithful” translation – still less an accurate one – but I hope that some of that variegated and spontaneous quality has come through. It is said that Zorrilla never made much money from writing, but always maintained that were he to stand outside the theatre after a performance of Don Juan, any one of the departing spectators would have given him the price of a meal. I only wish the man were alive now, so that I could take him out to the best restaurant in town, apologise for my own slips, and try to glean something of how it was all done.
Ranjit Bolt, 1990
The Real Don Juan was given its première by the Oxford Stage Company on its autumn tour in 1990. The cast was as follows:
DON JUAN TENORIO | John Michie |
DONA INES | Denise Thomas |
DON LUIS | David Solomon |
DON GONZALO DE ULLOA | Terry McGinity |
AVELLANEDA | Tony Crean |
BUTTARELLI/BRIGIDA | Nella Marin |
CIUTTI/PORTER/SCULPTOR | William Lawrance |
CENTELLAS | Derek Riddell |
DON DIEGO/PASCUAL | Richard Henry |
ABBESS/DONA ANA/LUCIA | Carla Mendonça |
Director | John Retallack |
Designer | Kenny Miller |
Lighting Designer | Kevin Sleep |
Composer/Musical Director | Howard Goodall |
Flamenco Guitar Music | Joanne Speechley |
Fight Director | John Waller |
Choreography | Seeta Indrani |
DON JUAN TENORIO
DON LUIS MEJIA
(A hidalgo)
DON GONZALO DE ULLOA
(Commander of the Order of Calatrava)
DON DIEGO TENORIO
(Don Juan’s father)
DONA INES DE ULLOA
(Don Gonzalo’s daughter)
DONA ANA DE PANTOJA
(Betrothed to Don Luis)
CRISTOFANO BUTTARELLI
(Landlord of the Laurel Inn)
CIUTTI
(Don Juan’s servant)
BRIGIDA
(Dona Ines’ nurse)
PASCUAL
(Servant in the Pantoja household)
CENTELLAS
(A Captain, and friend on Don Juan)
AVELLANEDA
(A hidalgo, and friend of Centellas and Don Luis)
LUCIA
(Dona Ana’s maid)
ABBESS
(Of the nuns of Calatrava)
PORTER
(Of the nuns of Calatrava)
GASTON
(Don Luis’ servant)
MIGUEL
(Buttarelli’s servant)
MASKERS, ONLOOKERS, CONSTABLES, SOLDIERS, CHERUBS, SPECTRES, SKELETONS
N.B., Mejía, Inés, Brígida, Cristófano, Gastón and Lucia are all written with accents. However, for purposes of this text, Ines should be treated as something of a metrical chameleon – sometimes the Spanish iamb, sometimes the Byronic trochee. I have also taken a liberty with Brigida in one place.
SCANDAL AND DEBAUCHERY
CRISTOFANO BUTTARELLI’s inn. Door to street, down stage. Tables, jugs, other utensils. DON JUAN, masked, sits at a table writing with an enormous quill pen; BUTTARELLI and CIUTTI wait to one side. As the curtain goes up sundry MASKERS, STUDENTS and CITIZENS pass through the street door with torches, musical instruments, etc.
DON JUAN: To hell with them and their “festivities” –
I’ll shut them up when I’ve completed this.
BUTTARELLI: Good carnival.
CIUTTI: Good harvest for your till.
BUTTARELLI: This is the silly season in Seville –
Nothing but small fry come to inns like these;
The upper classes are so hard to please –
The rabble, too, at times.
CIUTTI: But not today.
BUTTARELLI: It’s true, I’ve done some damn good business.
CIUTTI: Hey!
Don’t talk so loud – you’ll get him riled.
He indicates DON JUAN.
BUTTARELLI: Is he
Your master?
CIUTTI: Has been for a year.
BUTTARELLI: I see.
And what’s he like to work for?
CIUTTI: The best yet.
It’s heaven – everything I want I get:]
Wine, women, song, unlimited free time –
And all at his expense.
BUTTARELLI: It sounds sublime.
Rich, is he?
CIUTTI: Spends at a horrendous rate.
BUTTARELLI: And honest?
CIUTTI: As an undergraduate!
BUTTARELLI: Noble?
CIUTTI: A prince.
BUTTARELLI: And brave?
CIUTTI: A buccaneer.
BUTTARELLI: Spanish?
CIUTTI: Of course.
BUTTARELLI: His name?
CIUTTI: I have no idea.
BUTTARELLI: I’ll bet! Writing a novel is he, then?
CIUTTI: A letter. As the saying goes: “Big pen …”
BUTTARELLI: Who to?
CIUTTI: His father.
BUTTARELLI: Well! That’s what I call
A son!
CIUTTI: He’s an example to us all.
DON JUAN signs and folds the letter.
DONJUAN: Ciutti!
CIUTTI: Senor?
DONJUAN: Deliver this epistle
To Ines’ nurse – she’ll slip it in that missal
I gave her – she’s in league with me, you see.
She’s promised to supply you with a key –
Bring it back here at once.
CIUTTI: Immediately.
Exit.
DON JUAN: Cristofano!
BUTTARELLI: Signore?
DON JUAN: Vieni qua.
(BUTTARELLI goes over to him.)
Senti.
BUTTARELLI: Sento.
(Pause as DON JUAN searches for his Italian.)
I speak Castilian …
DONJUAN: Ah!
Well then, has Don Luis Mejia shown
His face today?
BUTTARELLI: His face is not in town,
And nor’s the rest of him.
DONJUAN: You’ve had no word?
BUTTARELLI: Well, now you come to mention it, I’ve heard
A story …
DONJUAN: Really? Will it shed some light
On matters?
BUTTARELLI: (Distracted.) Matters? I suppose it might.
DONJUAN: Out with it, then.
BUTTARELLI: (As before, soliloquising.) The year is up tonight!
I’d clean forgotten! Have I counted wrong … ?
DONJUAN: God, man! Do all your stories take this long?
BUTTARELLI: I’m sorry – I was trying to remember
The details …
DONJUAN: Quick! Before I lose my temper…
BUTTARELLI: Apparently, this Don Luis Mejia
Hit on the most ridiculous idea …
DONJUAN: The wager? That’s an ancient story …
BUTTARELLI: (Deflated.) Oh.
DONJUAN: Mejia bet Don Juan Tenorio
That in a given year (such was his whim)
He’d do more harm, more easily, than him.
BUTTARELLI: You’ve heard it then.
DONJUAN: I’m totally au fait –
That’s why I asked if he’d been here today.
BUTTARELLI: It’d be really something, in my view,
If they could settle this the way they do
Their bills.
DONJUAN: Are you implying there’s some doubt?
Mejia might consider backing out?
BUTTARELLI: There’s been no sign of either of them yet –
They’ve both forgotten all about that bet.
DONJUAN: Enough. Here’s gold for you.
He hands him two gold coins. BUTTARELLI bows
obsequiously.
BUTTARELLI: Excellency!
(Pauses as he pockets it.)
Do you know something I don’t?
DONJUAN: Possibly.
BUTTARELLI: You think they’re coming?
DONJUAN: One is guaranteed.
But if they both turn up you’re going to need
Two bottles of your finest wine. Good day.
Exit DONJUAN. BUTTARELLI watches him go, then
addresses the audience, rubbing his hands in anticipation.
BUTTARELLI: They’re going to keep the bet! They’re on their way!
He’s been informed.
(Noises off)
What’s going on out there?
(He goes to the door.)
It’s him again! He’s fighting in the square!
It’s twenty onto one … they’re falling back!
They’re on the run! And he’s on the attack!
My God! That pair have reached Castille, alright,
And trouble’s on the menu for tonight.
Miguel!
Enter MIGUEL.
MIGUEL: You called, sir?
BUTTARELLI: See that table there?
I want it laid – our finest silverware –
And fetch two bottles up, the best we’ve got.
MIGUEL: The Lachrimae?
BUTTARELLI: The Lachrimae – why not?
MIGUEL goes out as DON GONZALO enters.
DON GONZALO: Good evening.
BUTTARELLI: (Impatient.) What d’you want?
DON GONZALO: Who owns this place?
BUTTARELLI: You’re talking to him now.
DON GONZALO: Well, in that case.
What do you make of this?
Tosses him a gold coin.
BUTTARELLI: It’s gold, of course.
DON GONZALO: Answer some simple questions and it’s yours.
Another obsequious bow from BUTTARELLI.
BUTTARELLI: Excellency!
DON GONZALO: Don Juan Tenorio –
D’you know him?
BUTTARELLI: Certainly.
DON GONZALO: And would you know
Whether he’s meeting someone here tonight?
BUTTARELLI: You’re Don Luis Mejia, then?
DON GONZALO: Not quite –
Although I’d like to see their interview.
BUTTARELLI: This table’s theirs. Will that one do for you?
It’ll be well worth watching.
DON GONZALO: I dare say.
BUTTARELLI: There aren’t two finer men in Spain today.
DON GONZALO: Viler, you mean.
BUTTARELLI: (Dismissive.) If any mischief’s done
They’re sure to be accused by everyone –
It’s idle gossip. Let them rape and kill – –
Why should I worry, if they pay the bill?
I’m here to tell you …
DON GONZALO: (Dry.) Quite. It’s plain to see
That you’re a man of some integrity –
How can I watch them, then, without being seen?
From an adjoining room? Behind a screen?
BUTTARELLI: A mask should do the trick: it’s no disgrace,
During a carnival, to hide one’s face.