- Time, Please,
- 2008
Playwright: Eugenia Dagla
- Scenes that serve as a commentary on life, which might be imagined as taking place in a pub, where people laugh, talk, fall in love and quarrel; and scenes that reflect on death, humanity’s greatest fear. There is no plot, no characters, no action. Nothing happens. The actors briefly illuminate fragments of life, like flashes of lightning, before moving on. Throughout the pub scenes, the Barman — Death — is ever-present: discreet, almost invisible at first, until, in the final pub scene, he becomes the protagonist — just as he does in our lives. The text is inspired by London pubs, where life hums with cheerful noise until, at the end of the night, the Barman calls out, “Time, please!” and the customers begin to leave. Before the room empties, however, the Barman delivers the most important line of the play: “The greatest talent is to take part in life.” It is a lesson he has learned from his time among the pub’s regulars. And the play ends on a note of optimism: “See you here again tomorrow…” The play consists of eight self-contained scenes.