I am the Piece of Card that Stops the Table from Wobbling

Yo soy el cartón que hace que la mesa no cojee
by Alejandro Moreno (Chile), 2018
Multiple characters, can by performed by a range of size casts, of any genders

From the moment sperm meets egg, the expectation is unbearable.  Not even a fully formed baby, Félix is already subject to impossible pressure.  From parents, from society, from self.  A pressure that, sooner or later, is bound to break something or someone.  A mother flees, a substitute fails, a father f*cks it up.  Conform.  Succeed.  Find self.  Hustle. Thrive.  Exist in a world of state violence, media distortion and restrictions on body and sex.  The self of the past attacks the self of the future.  The Félix of now resents the Félix of then.  Again.  And again.  And again.

Do something so I can be someone,

so people know me for having done SOMETHING.

So they point at me and say:

“there goes someone who did SOMETHING”.

So they come up to you and ask you

“how did you do it?

how could you do something like that?”

And say thank you.

I want to say thank you.

Thank you to everyone who today.

Thank you to everyone who in one way or another…

This play has been translated as part of a British Council Santiago project, which aims to translate a number of modern Chilean plays into English for the first time.  Other plays in the selection include The Lady of the Andes by Bosco Cayo, The Desolate Prince, by Juan Radrigán, and The Recommendation by Egon Wolff, some of Chile’s most renowned and prolific playwrights.

Contact me for more details.

Back to translations.