Tatjana Motta
WHITE NIGHT
Selection Italian Playwrights Project 3th edition (2020/22)
excerpt translated by Thomas Simpson
Characters
Woman
Man
Host / An other
A girl / A mother
The Guests
A road.
The Host, the Woman and the Man
HOST This city is ideal for a few days. There’s everything: clubs, stores, churches, museums, markets, restaurants, parks, everything. The sea, beaches, the hills, architecture, history, art. The people are hospitable, naturally welcoming. It’s not one of those cities where tourists get grabbed from behind. Robbed on public transport. Cheated on the restaurant bill. People who come here don’t want to leave. There’s something for everyone. The young. Families with children. Women. Men. Couples. Welcome.
WOMAN Thank you.
MAN Thank you.
HOST Did you have a nice trip?
WOMAN Very long.
MAN But we can call it a nice trip.
WOMAN Twelve hours on the bus.
HOST Why didn’t you fly?
MAN We wanted to see the landscape.
WOMAN Plus he’s afraid of flying.
HOST You’ll certainly want to take a rest.
MAN We slept on the bus. We just need time enough to put down our backpacks, shower, and then we’ll go out.
HOST Your first time here?
WOMAN Yes, it’s the absolute first time for both of us. We’re only here for a few days, there’s never enough time. Scraps of time is all we have. But to travel, scraps aren’t enough. We decided to leave at the last minute. Because we didn’t know if we’d have any free time.
HOST You were lucky to find a place to stay. These days there’s not a hole to curl up in anywhere. It’s a holiday. People here wait all year for these days. Starting tonight, everything closes. Everyone stops doing what they were doing. They stop being who they are, they let it all go and make a ruckus.
MAN We know, we read all about it. We can’t wait.
HOST You found a place only because someone cancelled a reservation. A couple more or less like you. Couples like you always come here. It’s the perfect type of apartment. Because it’s little but it has everything. It’s central. If there’s a little noise at night, for a couple like you that’s no problem. During this holiday everything is going to be in movement. For a family, no. That wouldn’t be right. A family that comes back in the evening with children doesn't want to be pushing through drunks massed at the door trying to get to the bathroom. They urinate in the street and smash glasses and bottles all night long. But it’s no problem. Because in the morning it’s all clean again. They come by around six with the garbage trucks and it’s as though nothing happened.
WOMAN Maybe now we could go up to the apartment. We’d like to rest a little bit. Before everything gets started.
HOST Certainly. You’d like to go up. You’re tired and hungry. Destroyed by the trip. But there’s a problem. Unfortunately I couldn’t inform you before this. I just became aware of it. I came in like I always do. I always come twenty minutes before the guests. To air out the house. And I bring something to eat. As a welcome. Like you read in the description. And in the other guests reviews. If you read them.
MAN Yes we read them.
HOST Those are good reviews.
WOMAN Yes. What’s the problem?
HOST Something unexpected. Something out of order. Something exploded in the bathroom. It wasn’t the guests before you. They were very fine people. After they left I came over to clean and everything was as it should be. It must have happened during the night.
MAN We can come back later. Let’s go have a drink. We’ll take a walk. Maybe we’ll just set down our backpacks. So you have time to resolve the problem. We’re on vacation, our schedule is open.
HOST Naturally I’d like to let you in. To put down your backpacks. I’d have no problem with that. But as it is the apartment is in no condition to show.
WOMAN How long will it take to fix?
HOST There’s nothing I can do. During the holidays it’s impossible to find a repairman. The apartment is unusable. It is uninhabitable. It is inaccessible.
WOMAN He says we can’t get in.
MAN I heard.
HOST Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. There is literally shit everywhere.
WOMAN So we have nowhere to sleep tonight.
MAN I understood what he said. Now we’ll see how we can come to an agreement. Our problem is that it’s very difficult to find a place during the holidays.
HOST These days it’s impossible to find a place to stay. But it’s important not to give up. Let’s not become enemies. Guests are friends. What happened, it’s true, is very serious. It’s my responsibility. It is the responsibility of the Host to guarantee his guests are welcome. And if that can’t be, it’s the Host who loses. Believe me: for me hospitality is the most important thing. Hospitality is what is truly beautiful. Mine is not a real risk, I know. Perhaps I risk a bad review. A single terrible review is not so serious. But it matters to me. Reviews. They are the proof of my commitment. They guarantee that I can go on renting. I need to rent the apartment. I live on this rent. It’s a small property. Only 45 square meters. But it’s mine. And it is my blessing. While I rent my place a friend puts me up. I say this, not to cause you pain, but to ask you: Please, truly, do not destroy me with a terrible review. Also because there is no reason. You have been fortunate. During these days, finding a hole to curl up in is truly impossible. But you mustn’t worry about anything. It’s all taken care of for you. You don’t even have to make a call. I already have a solution. A perfect solution for a couple such as yourselves. My brother has a small apartment he doesn’t use, an efficiency. Sixth floor with an elevator. Filled with light. It has everything. You can set yourselves up there. It’s comfortable, well connected. There are supermarkets, bars, a hospital. It’s in a quiet neighborhood. Families live there. The people there get up in the morning and travel downtown for work. It’s quiet in the evening. It’s not as central as here. But it’s only a few minutes by subway. So you can rest before the celebrations begin. My brother will bring you the keys in a restaurant here nearby. A restaurant I know well and which I recommend. If you’f allow me I’d be very glad to offer you something. You are my guests. Shall we go?
MAN Perfect.
WOMAN We can think about it a moment.
MAN I mean, why not?
HOST Don’t worry. I’m not in a hurry. Take all the time you need. I’ll step away. To give you time to decide. I’ll wait for you at the subway entrance. Once you’ve decided, we can be there in a few minutes.
The Host goes away.
He goes very far away.
He is miniscule on the horizon, a tiny point.
He may watch them, but it’s not possible that he could hear them.
WOMAN We can evaluate what is proposed to us before leaping blindly into a situation we know nothing about, stumbling in the darkness after someone we barely know. We don't know the city and don’t know whether what we’re about to choose is a good opportunity or something else. Whether it is really the only possibility we have or if there are others.
MAN Or we can trust. Anyway, we have nothing to lose. We have no commitments. We have no schedule and we don’t want to take a typical vacation. Plus we’re together, you and me, and if this guy wanted to mug us for the pure pleasure of it, strangle us, cut us in pieces, drink our blood and sell our organs, someone would certainly know how to track him down, thanks to our reservation on the site, where we’ve been registered. It’s clear as the sun that for a maniac this would not be the most convenient way to reel in victims.
WOMAN You’ve really thought of everything.
MAN Because I know you. You like details. I know if you don’t imagine all the most catastrophic outcomes a choice might lead to, you never choose.
WOMAN So you know I think he’s going to take us to a dark storage closet and torture us for hours.
MAN Already been seen.
WOMAN And they can’t track him down because the profile was a false one.
MAN Anything else?
WOMAN He won’t kill us right away. If the victim dies right away the story is less interesting.
MAN Depends on your point of view.
WOMAN The point of view is ours. That of the victims.
MAN So one victim has to save herself. One is always saved. But only one.
WOMAN Usually it’s her. The one who was doubtful at the beginning.
MAN We have to find out how it ends up. Saying no now is like slamming the door on opportunity.
WOMAN Maybe.
MAN I think it’s the only possible alternative, if we want to have a shower in the next three days.
WOMAN Maybe. In any case in every horror story the protagonists take the path that everyone else can see is the wrong one. They’re the only ones who don’t see. And there’s also another thing: in their eyes, the wrong path always seems like the only possible choice.
MAN Every choice is a shot in the dark, my love.
