Dylan

In a small town far from the metropolis, student nurse Dylan becomes Andrea.  Inspired by the glamour of an age gone by, and loved and supported by fellow students and an ally from the nearby travelling circus, Andrea steps out into the night and is adored by all who see her.  But when the sun rises, the spell is broken, and the reality of a still-intolerant world hits hard, with abuse, violence, and murder.  A devastated mother fights for justice, shedding tears and even blood in her attempts to have her child’s killers exposed.  But an aggressive media is determined to twist her story, the local people are determined to keep their silence, and the protest movements, support groups and articulate campaigners of the big city seem far, far away.  In a response to true-life events, Chile’s award-winning dramatist turns his unmistakable style to a tragedy that transcends national borders to ask, once again, what value any community has if it fails to include us all.

We walked along, both of us drunk, and I left him at the door.   Dylan’s mother doesn’t let me inside the house, so we stayed in the front garden for a while and watched the sun rise and thought about Mari Pepa Nieto and all those coppers getting turned on by a fascist stripper.  We stayed there a long time.  Hugging each other in the cold. Then I told her it was late and I had to go back to the circus because I had a show the next day.  So she kissed me on the mouth and went to bed.  And that was the last time I saw my friend.  I caught the bus and went to Quebradilla where the big top is.  I thought about Dylan’s beautiful heart.  It’s so fragile, I said to myself.  Any moment, someone will break that heart, like a sky on the verge of tears.

This translation of Dylan was commissioned by the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre.

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