The Guest (Engida): A One Act Play

Summary

(As the audience enters the hall, soft nostalgic music is playing. On the backdrop there is an atmospheric sunset glow. In the middle of a garden there is a raised platform on which a table and chairs are set. To the right is a raised veranda and the front door of an old house, and to the left the way to the offstage gate. Lights go out and in the dark a cigarette is lit stage left. After a while a woman's voice is heard singing a lullaby.

Oh my baby,

I have you on my back

as I perform my household chores,

The skin on my back is injured,

Please come down.

The light on stage is switched on and a woman (the wife) wearing a short skirt that shows her shapely legs crosses the stage from left to right. With a double take she notices a man (the husband) lying on a reclining chair wearing sunglasses and smoking a cigarette.)

Wife What's wrong?

Husband (Without turning.) What's wrong?

Wife Why were you sitting in the dark?

Husband There is nothing new to be seen in this compound. I know every plant and its location like the back of my hand. So what do I need the light for?

Wife Shall I turn it off then?

Husband But now you are here! (He places the cigarette on the ashtray.)

Wife Do you mean to say that you don't know me? (She places the fruit she was carrying and a newspaper on the platform.)

Husband (Moving close to her.) If the first man does not know the first woman … (He embraces her from behind.)

Wife Adam knew his wife Eve!

Husband She took of the fruit and gave unto her husband; and he did eat.

And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.

(He kisses her on the neck and she laughs. After fooling around, she takes a grape and stretches her hand toward his mouth, but when he is about to eat, she eats it herself. When she does this once more, he grabs her hand and eats the grape.)