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Booth Three

A tragicomedy in three days

  • Tragicomedy
  • Romance
  • 4-character play
  • 2 women, 1 man, 1 either
  • 55 min
  • Advanced
PDF Word Free, no sign-up

Synopsis

In Lisbon, over the three days of an international bridge engineering congress, Elena and Jonas, both interpreters, find themselves in the same booth. They lived together twenty years ago and haven’t spoken since. With them are Sam, on placement, who needs ten minutes at the mic to qualify, and Alma, on the sound desk, who hears everything. They can only talk to each other with the mic off, and the speeches they interpret start answering for them.

Interpreting booth no. 3 in a Lisbon conference centre, over three days in October, the present day.

Casting

458 lines
  • ELENA Female role, Adult 51, conference interpreter, has lived in Montreal for twenty years.
  • JONAS Male role, Adult 53, conference interpreter, lived with Elena for six years.
  • SAM No gender marker, Young adult 24, in the final year of interpreting school, on placement with Elena.
  • ALMA Female role, Adult 46, sound technician, has run the sound desk at congresses from city to city for fifteen years.

Contents

  1. Act One: Day One
    • Scene 1
    • Scene 2
    • Scene 3
    • Scene 4
  2. Act Two: Day Two
    • Scene 1
    • Scene 2
    • Scene 3
    • Scene 4
  3. Act Three: Day Three
    • Scene 1
    • Scene 2
    • Scene 3

Excerpt

Act One: Day One

Scene 1

(Booth 3: a window looking out over a large hall, a console, two microphones, two headsets, a third chair at the back with a third headset. Alma, a headset round her neck, is testing the mics.)

ALMA

One, two. One, two. Booth 3, left mic.

(She presses a button.)

ALMA

Booth 3, right mic. One, two. The bridges of Lisbon. One, two, three.

(Elena comes in with a bag, a thermos and a stack of files.)

ELENA

Good morning. They told me booth 3.

ALMA

They told you right. Sit wherever you like, but I’m warning you, the right mic crackles if you tap your foot.

ELENA

I don’t tap my foot.

453 more lines, 14 scenes

The rest is waiting in the file.

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