Beat

The bickering of a cantankerous couple in a crumbling care home belies a love story of meetings and missed opportunties that has lasted a lifetime.  United by chance as teenagers and vowing to run away together, Vladimir and Heart have instead spent decades drifting in and out of each other’s lives, blocked at every turn by the demands of their families, the ravages of history, and the brutality of economic instability.  Reunited at last in their sunset years, the chance has come to rekindle their love.  But in a society where the old are so cruelly neglected, the option of seeing out their lives in peace looks set to elude them.

Show some courtesy; be a gentleman, Vladimir. Let me die first. Do not give me, under any circumstances, the displeasure of seeing you die. It would be inconceivable, after all this time, for you to come out with something so absurd. This is my moment. My big moment!

Beat was written as part of the Royal Court Theatre’s international playwrights programme, in conjunction with the Anglo-Mexican Foundation.

It is published in the anthology Mexican Playwrights at the Royal Court, along with A Choir of Orphaned Children by Mariana Hartasánchez.  The anthology is published by Paso de Gato and can be found online here.

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