Divino Pastor Góngora

Divino Pastor Góngora
by Jaime Chabaud (Mexico), 2006
One male.

‘William Gregory’s evocative, pithy translation wrings out every double entendre with poetic dignity.’  The Stage

It is 1790 in New Spain, and an actor once prized by the court has fallen from grace.  Having embarked on an illicit affair with the niece of the local inquisitor, only to find himself accused of conspiring against colonial rule, he languishes now in a dark cell, awaiting the bleakest of fates.  Once adored by multitudes, he craves now for a morsel of attention from the guard who silently sits vigil at his cell door.  Desperate, he falls into reveries and recollections of his life to date and the events that have led to his downfall.

Your sniggering is a death-blow to me.  By God, hell, a man does not go through the world telling just anybody that he has not been able to perform with a pretty young girl…!  I shall remember you as the worst audience for whom I have ever worked… 

Whose side are you on, the Devil’s…?  These men are coming to punish me for a crime I did not commit…  I will pay for one sin under the name of another… 

Conspirator…?!!  Leader of the insurrection, I?  I?  Swine; vile, mad-pricked pig; fast-cocked slubber de gullion; over-sexed shit-stack, oh, yes…!  Oh, yes…! 

But an insurgent of the uprising…?

This translation was commissioned by The Anglo-Mexican Foundation, with Jon Bonfiglio and Giles Ramsay, for Teatro del Mar’s production at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2006.  It was directed by Miguel Ángel Ribera and performed by Carlos Cobos.

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