The Syndicate by Eduardo De Filippo

Author:Eduardo De Filippo
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781408156919
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2019-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

Act Three

Sun setting. Don Antonio’s splendid house in Naples. There is clearly something wrong with Don Antonio, who looks pale and drained and sits oddly. Fabio finishes a letter and takes the sheet from the typewriter.

Fabio It needs your signature.

Antonio Read out what I dictated first. There may be something you forgot.

Fabio I’ve written exactly what you told me to write. We’ve no time to lose. In any sense …

Takes the sheet out of the machine.

Listen carefully.

Doorbell rings.

That’s Luigi.

He lets in Luigi and Vicenza.

Fabio Excellent! Well done, Luigi. And thanks, Vicenzella.

Luigi I think I’ve got everything. Eight roast chicken like you said — salad, cheese and cake — ‘cept she said it wasn’t a cake it was a gateau.

Fabio Take it into the kitchen. Put the chicken on the big serving dishes.

Vicenza (has a basket of salad, fruit and ice) I’ll put the fruit on ice and wash the salad — it can be dressed at the table.

Fabio You’ll have to hurry.

Luigi Hey, Doctor, they wouldn’t believe me at the cake shop when I said the order was for Don Antonio: ‘Don Antonio,’ they said, ‘nonsense! He’s still in Terzigno with his family.’ They just wouldn’t have it. ‘He’s here,’ I said, ‘back here in Naples.’ ‘We’re just into September,’ they said. ‘He never comes back before the middle of October.’

Fabio It’s only for the night. We’ll go back to Terzigno in the morning.

Luigi Well, come home soon, Don Anto’ … business is always bad when you take a holiday.

Moves towards kitchen.

Get a move on, Vicenza.

Vicenza Excuse me.

They exit to kitchen.

Fabio How are you feeling?

Antonio Oddly enough, Doctor, I feel nothing.

Fabio It’s not possible. The blade went in about six centimetres. I don’t have my instruments with me – no surgical knives, no iodine – there’s nothing more I can do. I’ve bandaged you up as best I can … You’re lucky to be still alive, but …. ‘I’m not feeling too well,’ he says … You should have told me the truth straight away. I’d have driven you straight to casualty –

Antonio Where I’d have had to answer endless questions. Fill in forms — name names — do I want to press charges? Is it likely? Because for once I’m the man with the problem? You know how many disputes and crimes I have settled — and always in my own way. Now something’s happened to me: ‘Please, sirs, I want him punished.’ Never.

Fabio You could have said you didn’t know your attacker: ‘a person or persons unknown — I might recognise him if I saw him again.’ You know how it works.

Antonio And what about my family? My sons? Gennaro and Amedeo knew I was going to talk to Arturo Santaniello … it wouldn’t take them long to find out the truth. They’d go after him. More bloodshed, yet another vendetta. It’s enough, Doctor … Enough is enough. For thirty-five years you and I have worked together — done all we could to staunch the flow of blood

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